Researchers from the Victoria Department of Primary Industries have studied the DNA of five modern Tammar wallaby genes and reproduced a 60-million-year-old gene. The scientists will use the reproduced gene to develop a compound they plan to use to fight super-microbes in hospitals.

Agriculture Minister Peter Walsh said the compound, an antimicrobial peptide, also has potential to cure mastitis in dairy cows. The DPI is working with an international biotechnology firm for the development of the compound.

DPI lead scientist Ben Cocks said when the ancient antimicrobial is compared with the modern peptide, the former is more effective against mastitis-causing pathogens. Mastitis, which is the cause of the udder's inflammation, costs Australia's dairy industry millions of dollars in lost productivity annually.

"Being able to recreate something we estimate to be 60 million years old and actually have it work is definitely very exciting," Cocks told the Herald Sun.

The Tammar wallaby has no effective immune system upon birth and uses antimicrobial peptides like the one discovered by DPI to battle diseases.

In 2009, New Zealand scientists compared the gene sequences of the wallaby and two other Australian species born without placentas with DNA from mammals, including humans. The two other species they studied endemic to Australia are the platypus and possum.

The study, led by Professor Neil Gemmel of Otago University and Dr Kristy Demmers of AgResearch, sought to identify the key genes that help form the placenta during pregnancy. It sought to know more about the genetic basis of placenta formation.

The study's findings have the potential of helping doctors reduce failure of early pregnancy and improve offspring growth and survival both in humans and livestock.