Cuddly Koala Genomics

The genome assembly of the koala is reported in a paper published online in Nature Genetics. This high quality genome represents the most complete genome sequence for a marsupial to date. The data give insight into the highly specialized koala diet, consisting of eucalyptus leaves, and provide information that may be useful to combatting infectious disease. Koalas are a vulnerable species and part of the aim of the the project was to use the genomic data to inform conservation efforts. We spoke.