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Article: Platypus unlocks evolution's secrets.(Genome Sequencing)
- Article from:
- USA TODAY
- Article date:
- June 1, 2009
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By any account, the platypus is an odd creature. It has a broad, rubbery bill that brings to mind a duck, but it swims mere like a beaver; yet, it lays eggs and can inject poisonous venom like a reptile. No wonder it is considered an elaborate hoax by scientists who examined the first specimen pelt shipped to England from the colony of New South Wales in 1799.
A consortium of scientists, including Cold Spring Harbor (N.Y.) Laboratory's Gregory J. Harmon, published results of an international effort to sequence the platypus genome. It reveals evolutionary secrets that go far beyond the obvious fact that the creature, found exclusively in eastern and southern ...