Characterizing the chromosomes of the Australian model marsupial Macropus eugenii (tammar wallaby)

Marsupials occupy a phylogenetic middle ground that is very valuable in genome comparisons of mammal and other vertebrate species. For this reason, whole genome sequencing is being undertaken for two distantly related marsupial species, including the model kangaroo species Macropus eugenii (the tammar wallaby). As a first step towards the molecular characterization of the tammar genome, we present a detailed description of the tammar karyotype, report the development of a set of molecular anchor markers and summarize the comparative mapping data for this species.