Duck-billed platypus genome sequence published

Scientists were also eager to find out how venom production became a part of the platypus genome. When researchers began analyzing the genetic sequences responsible for venom production in the male platypus, they made a surprising finding. They discovered that venom produced by the male platypus arose from duplications in certain genes over the course of evolutionary time which had been passed on from ancestral reptile genomes. The reptilian lineage displays a similar duplication of venom genes, but that duplication appears to have occurred independently during the evolution of reptiles, giving them similar powers to produce venom.

“This genome provides a unique perspective on what the genomes of our earliest mammalian ancestors may have looked like. It is fascinating that what we think of as being reptile-like and mammal-like features can co-exist in the same genome.” said Adam Felsenfeld, Ph.D., who heads the Comparative and Sequencing Analysis Program in NHGRI’s Division of Extramural Research.

The platypus genome sequence is publicly available from NIH’s National Center for Biotechnology Information (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov). NCBI distributes the sequence data to the European Molecular Biology laboratory’s Nucleotide Sequence Database, EMBL-Bank (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/embl/index.html), and the DNA Data Bank of Japan, DDBJ (www.ddbj.nig.ac.jp).

For more information on comparative genomic analysis, go to: http://www.genome.gov/11509542.

NHGRI is one of 27 institutes and centers at the NIH, an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The NHGRI Division of Extramural Research supports grants for research and for training and career development at sites nationwide. Additional information about NHGRI can be found at its Web site, www.genome.gov.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) –“The Nation's Medical Research Agency” – includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.