Dr Grutzner says the platypus has already revolutionised our understanding of the origin of our sex chromosomes, showing they emerged after the separation of the monotremes from other mammals.
"The inclusion of the platypus as our most distant mammalian relative was particularly important in this study," he said.
"One gene that shows much higher activity in the platypus brain is known to be involved in explorative behaviour in mice and it is tempting to speculate that this has to do with the intense foraging style that we can observe in the platypus.
"If you look at the genes that have, for example, something to do with detox in the liver, and they have all changed in the platypus or the human, may be something happened in these organs and these tissues, and in the physiology of these tissues that is causing the change."
He says the study and the database of information will allow connections to be made between some of the physiology, tissue, anatomy and the actual genes that underlie.
"And that's a very important starting point for any further study," he said.
The international study, led by University of Lausanne associate professor Henrik Kaessmann, is published in the journal Nature.
- AAP
