Unveiled this week by Australian researchers, the kangaroo genome has about 20,000 genes.

It will allow scientists to trace back 150 million years to when the kangaroo shared an ancestor with humans.

This will help them compare the two genomes and analyse how the human genome evolved.

"This is a milestone because it makes so many other things possible," said Professor Jenny Graves, director of Parkville's ARC Centre for Excellence for Kangaroo Genomics (KanGO).

"There are a lot more similarities to the human genome than we had expected and that's going to be very helpful in our comparisons of the two genomes."

Using the tammar wallaby as a model kangaroo, the genome — the full set of genes and DNA in the species — will also help researchers answer key genetic and reproductive questions.

Australia's agricultural industry could also benefit because the genome map could be used to understand why kangaroos are resistant to ticks and whether this could be replicated in livestock.

Similarly, the medical industry has much to learn about the kangaroo's milk, which is a better antibiotic than penicillin.

"We can see that there are products that kangaroos make that could be very useful to know about for humans," said Professor Graves, a geneticist.

"Australia's weird and wonderful animals are making crucial contributions."

The kangaroo genome map follows the mapping of the South American opossum — the first marsupial to be sequenced — and the platypus, which was completed in May by an international team of scientists, including Professor Graves.