Date Time World-first echidna, improved platypus genomes mapped An international team of scientists, including from the University of Sydney, have sequenced monotreme genomes, leading to evolutionary and future medical discoveries. Credit: Echidna CSI. The first ever echidna genome and a greatly improved, high-quality platypus genome have been sequenced by an international team of researchers. The findings, published in Nature, were produced by 40 researchers from Australia, China, Japan, the US, and Denmark, including from the University of Sydney. University of Sydney lead, Professor Katherine Belov from the School of Life and Environmental Sciences, said that through this research, she and the team “discovered new peptides” in both the platypus and echidna genomes. These peptides have the potential to be developed into novel drugs for humans and other animals due to their potent antimicrobial activities. “Their potential for biomedical applications is so exciting,” Professor Belov said.