It can fit snugly into the palm of your hand. The uninitiated might even mistake it for a rodent. The opossum has led a relatively quiet existence yet it will forever be recorded in history books as the first marsupial whose DNA code has been completely mapped.
This extraordinary achievement is now published in Nature and Genome Research journal and is part of a three-year project to decode the genetic origins of marsupials. Led by Kerstin Lindblad-Toh of the Broad Institute at the famed Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the paper proposes that almost 180 million years ago both humans and opossums had the same ancestor.
The findings of the paper could have wide-ranging benefits. Known scientifically as the Monodelphis domestica, the opossum genome has around 18,000 to 20,000 protein-coding genes, which places it almost in the same range as humans. This means that not only does the opossum become interesting for the anthropologist but the marsupial could hold the key towards future treatments of skin cancer. The opossum is the only known lab animal that suffers skin cancer as a result of exposure to ultraviolet or UV rays.
Scientists also remain excited by the revelation that the young ones of the opossum have the remarkable ability to re-grow their spinal cord after it has been severed. Further research could provide fresh insights into the nature of paralysis and finding ways to heal damaged spinal tissue. Who knows? In the future, a cure for spinal paralysis might very well be traced to this tiny unsung marsupial.
Via: Discovery
