An international team of researchers last Friday said they had sequenced the first genome of a kangaroo, a project aimed at pinpointing the genes that give the marsupial its remarkable abilities to hop and smell.
The DNA code of the tammar wallaby is presented in Genome Biology, published by British-based open-access science publishers BioMed Central.
The pint-sized ‘roo measures only 45cm from head to tailtip and has long intrigued biologists.
Photo: Reuters 照片：路透
It has a 12-month gestation of which 11 months is a period of suspended animation in the womb. At birth, the young weigh only half a gram, and spend nine months in the mother’s pouch for protection as they grow.
The wallaby joins more than 130 other organisms to have its genome unraveled.
They include humans, the chimpanzee, dog, rat, mouse and rabbit, as well as valuable crops, fungi and the fruit fly, a standard model for lab research.
Photo: EPA 照片：歐新社
(AFP)
一群國際研究團隊上週五表示，他們已完成測定袋鼠基因序列的一組基因，該計畫主要是要找出使有袋動物擁有卓越跳躍與嗅覺能力的基因。
關於塔馬爾沙袋鼠的DNA基因碼的研究報告，刊登於所在地在英國的生物醫學中心出版社出版的《基因生物學》期刊。該出版社以開放網路存取為主。
Photo: EPA 照片：歐新社
這種體型比標準小的袋鼠，從頭到尾雖僅四十五公分長，但長久以來一直激起生物學家對牠的好奇心。
袋鼠有十二個月的懷孕期，其中有十一個月呈子宮假死狀態。出生時，幼袋鼠只有半克重，並且有九個月的期間，被保護在媽媽的育兒袋內繼續發育。
沙袋鼠與其他一百三十種生物的基因組已被破解。
他們包括人類、黑猩猩、狗、鼠、鼷鼠、兔子，以及經濟作物、真菌與果蠅，這些都是實驗室研究的標準樣本。
（法新社／翻譯：林亞蒂）
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