THE kangaroo is far more closely related to humans than previously thought, Australian researchers say.

Researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Kangaroo Genomics (KanGO) released today the first detailed map of the kangaroo genome.

Genomes are the full set of genes and DNA in a species.

KanGO director Professor Jenny Graves said the historic research would help scientists understand how the genes worked and how humans evolved.

"Kangaroos are hugely informative about what we were like 150 million years ago,'' Professor Graves said.

"We go back in time and compare ourselves with a mouse and a kangaroo and a platypus and a chicken and that tells us how our genomes evolved.

"It's kind of like looking at the stars and trying to imagine the big bang.''

Humans and kangaroos last shared an ancestor at least 150m years ago, while mice and humans diverged only 70 million years ago.

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