GREEN LIGHT FOR KANGAROO GENOME

An Australian icon, the kangaroo, will now become an important international genetic resource, thanks to last-minute backing of $6 million from the Victorian State Government.

“This will put Australia on the genetic map at last,” Professor Jenny Graves, Research Director of the ARC Centre for Kangaroo Genomics at the ANU Research School of Biological Sciences, said. “There is huge international interest in sequencing a marsupial genome.”

The contribution of the Victorian Government toward the sequencing of the kangaroo genome will be matched by funding from the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH).

“I commend John Brumby and the Victorian Government for taking the lead on this important national initiative. Without Victoria's support we would have lost this unique opportunity.”

Sequencing the kangaroo genome has long been a goal of Professor Graves and her colleague Dr Sue Forrest, the Director of the Australian Genome Research Facility in Melbourne.

“It is important for Australia to capitalise on all the decades of Australian research on Australian marsupials,” Professor Graves said. “We know a great deal about kangaroo physiology in this country – especially reproduction – so we are prime position to be able to use the information for gene discovery and to invent new products.”

Professor Graves, along with Professor Marilyn Renfree and Professor Terry Speed of the University of Melbourne, and Professor Des Cooper of Macquarie University, proposed to sequence the kangaroo genome a year ago, but the NIH elected to sequence the American opossum instead.

However, the NIH offered to match an Australian contribution to sequence the kangaroo, as having the kangaroo as well as the opossum sequence would more than double the usefulness of marsupial sequence in interpretation of the human genome.

“Our Centre is working to make a detailed roadmap of the kangaroo genome and we will be in pole position for using the sequence as it is revealed, enabling us to put all the bits of sequence together so we can find genes and compare them with their human counterparts. This will help us better understand human genes, and provide information on diseases and drugs.”

Added to this is the potential of finding novel marsupial genes and discovering how they work. For instance, marsupials know how to turn on and off the development of embryos, which could help treat infertility and develop new contraceptives. Marsupials are also sophisticated milk producers, and have a number of characteristics that could benefit agriculture, such as resistance to various pests.

“Perhaps the best aspect is that the kangaroo genome sequencing will be a flagship project that will bring international attention to biotechnology in Australia, as well as enhancing our capability in this critical new area,” Professor Graves said.

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