The first marsupial genome sequence [Nature Rev Gen]

"One surprising finding from comparing the opossum and human genomes is that most sequence innovation in the human genome following the eutherian split from the metatherian lineage has occurred in non-coding sequences (20% being lineage-specific in eutherians), rather than in coding sequences (only 1% are absent in metatherians). Many of these non-coding sequences are in regions surrounding important developmental genes, indicating that they are functional regulatory elements. The authors found a high degree of overlap between eutherian-specific sequences and transposable elements (16%), which might have served as a driving force in the evolution of the eutherian genome." The first marsupial genome sequence : Article : Nature Reviews Genetics