Kangaroos 'are closely related to humans'

Daily Mail ^ | Tuesday, November 18th, 2008 | unattributed

[SunkenCiv]

Humans and kangaroos are close cousins on the evolutionary tree sharing a common ancestor 150 million years ago, according to Australian researchers. Scientists have mapped the genetic code of the Australian marsupials for the first time and found large chunks of DNA are the same. '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,'  said Jenny Graves, director of the Centre of Excellence for Kangaroo Genomics. '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,' she added. Humans and kangaroos last shared an ancestor 150million years ago, the researchers found, while mice and humans diverged from one another 70 million years ago. They believe kangaroos first evolved in China, but migrated across the Americas to Australia and Antarctica. 'Kangaroos are hugely informative about what we were like 150 million years ago,' Graves said.

[Fred Nerks]

Jenny Graves, director of the Centre of Excellence for Kangaroo Genomics.

What in heaven's name does that mean?

[Fred Nerks]

The Centre aims to map and provide essential data for the completion of the sequence and assembly of the entire wallaby genome as a representative kangaroo and to explore functional biology of marsupial as models for understanding genomics, reproduction and development in mammals. The Centre will use this information to make fundamental discoveries about the organization, function and evolution of mammal genomes, including human.

The animal model for our studies is a small member of the kangaroo family, the tammar (Macropus eugenii). The tammar wallaby has been selected as it is amenable to handling and breeds well in captivity. It is also well understood, having been the subject of research in marsupial genetics and genomics, as well as physiological, developmental and ecological studies over many years.

Over the next three years (2008-2010) the Centre will expand its focus from two, to all eight chromosomes, of the female tammar wallaby genome.

The ARC Centre of Excellence for Kangaroo Genomics, fondly called KanGO.

[SunkenCiv]

They’re working on a kangaroo version of Ritalin. ;’)

[rahbert]

I say that bloke is cruising for a serious thumping...

[Tallguy]

150 Million years ago? That's closer to the Age of Dinosaurs than it is to the present (about 90% of the way, in fact). Since modern mammals are thought to have evolved from the more primative marsupial line, what about this article is actually shocking?

[SunkenCiv]

cousin caterpillar

[Daffynition]

Proof.

[SunkenCiv]

The Age(s) of Dinosaurs ended only 65 million years ago. :')

Early Marsupial Fossils Found
by Kenneth Chang
(1998)

Scurrying around some 80 million years ago, during the age of dinosaurs, an early relative of the present-day opossum was unremarkable in appearance. It looked like, well, a small opossum. More surprising is where it was scurrying: Mongolia.

Earliest known marsupial unearthed in China
by Emma Young
19:00 11 December 03

The oldest known fossil skeleton of an ancestor of modern marsupials has been unearthed in north-eastern China. The spectacular find is 50 million years older than the previous record holder, and helps to fill a key gap in the understanding of early mammal evolution. China's Yixian rock formation, which is 125 million years old, has produced a spectacular haul of early mammal fossils, including, in 2002, the earliest known placental mammal... The discovery of both the oldest known marsupial and placental mammal at the same site gives a powerful boost to the theory that the two important lineages evolved in Eurasia, and then spread to the rest of the world... Some other researchers are unconvinced by this, but nonetheless agree that the find is very important. This is partly because the skeleton suggests the early marsupial could climb trees, just like early placental animals... The earliest known mammal fossil remains were unearthed in Texas, US, and date back 225 million years... Teeth of marsupial-like fossils dating back about 110 million years ago have been found in the US.

[RegulatorCountry]

Well, thank you for the links. The observation that finding “chunks,” or modules, of the human genome contained — apparently intact if this article is accurate — within the kangaroo genome sounds like modular design, still stands. As a point of reference, consider modular source code libraries for programming, in C++ or Java. Write it once, use it many times.

[martin_fierro]

'Sup.

[SunkenCiv]

The current thinking (and this has been for a while) is that genes are three base-pair sequences, and there are reasons this is thought. But the sheer quantity of duplicative sequences, particularly those which apparently don’t do anything, are generally taken to mean that the viral infections have left non-functioning chunks of spliced-in base pairs.

For instance, the base-pair sequence for type O blood is identical to the base-pair sequence for type A blood, except that it lacks the first base pair. That could mean that type A arose later, but to my mind (and for several reasons) it means that type O is a descendant of type A.

[SunkenCiv]

Looks like he’s half in the, uh, bag...

[SunkenCiv]

The Scars of Evolution:
What Our Bodies Tell Us
About Human Origins
by Elaine Morgan

"The most remarkable aspect of Todaro's discovery emerged when he examined Homo Sapiens for the 'baboon marker'. It was not there... Todaro drew one firm conclusion. 'The ancestors of man did not develop in a geographical area where they would have been in contact with the baboon. I would argue that the data we are presenting imply a non-African origin of man millions of years ago.'"

[School of Rational Thought]

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

Finally something useful ;-)

[SunkenCiv]

Hey, you must not have seen *this* one yet:

Scientists: Bison in Illinois earlier (aren’t you relieved?)
South Carolina homepage (thestate.com) | Tue, Aug. 30, 2005 | Associated Press
Posted on 09/03/2005 7:17:31 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1476377/posts

[Revolting cat!]

[seowulf]

Lonely Australians left to their own devices...

Honest, officer. I was just helping that 'roo across the fence.

[Revolting cat!]

I wanna roo you,
Wanna get close to you...

(Van Morrison)

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

The earliest known mammal fossil remains were unearthed in Texas, US, and date back 225 million years

That would have had to be egg-laying mammals (monotremes), and in the middle Triassic Period, just as the dinosaurs were coming into dominance.

[Tallguy]

< smacks forehead > yep, you’re right of course! It’s getting late & the caffeine deficit is making the numbers fuzzy in my brain!