Kangaroo genes close to humans

Kangaroo genes close to humans

Australian researchers said: kangaroos from Australia are genetically similar to humans. Scientists said they had for the 1st time mapped the genetic code& found much of it was similar to the genome for humans.

Centre Director Jenny Graves told in a report that: "There are a few differences, we have a few more of this, a few less of that, but they are the same genes and a lot of them are in the same order." "We thought they'd be completely scrambled, but they're not. There is great chunks of the
human genome which is sitting right there in the kangaroo genome," Graves said, according to AAP.

Humans and kangaroos last shared an ancestor at least 150 million years ago, the researchers found, while mice and humans diverged from one another only 70 million years ago.

"Kangaroos are hugely informative about what we were like 150 million years ago," Graves said.