Just out: Molecular conservation of marsupial and eutherian placentation and lactation

September 2017: Eutherian mammals (e.g. human, mouse) are often referred to as “placental” mammals, yet marsupials (e.g. kangaroo, koala) also have a fully functioning placenta, made out of the yolk sac. The evolutionary relationship between eutherian and marsupial placentas had not been investigated at the molecular level, so we performed RNA-Seq on a prized collection of wallaby placentas, provided by the Renfree lab! This was a collaboration with Michael Guernsey of Julie Baker’s lab (Stanford) and Marilyn Renfree (Univ of Melbourne).
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