Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Canine Genetic Wrinkle Has Human Potential
In this article a gene mutation found in the Shar-peis, an ancient Chinese breed, causes wrinkles and fevers. The one gene affects both. It was said by a doctoral student that the fever would have a higher risk if the dog had more copies of the gene mutation. Hyaluronic acid was found to be the cause of this. It can be found all over the dog's skin and more of this acid being made will cause the fever to more likely happen. Hyaluronan synthase 2 is the cause of the over production of the acid. What is being done now about this problem is that breeders are trying to avoid breeding these dogs that have more than one gene mutation and also develop a test to reduce the amount of dogs that have fevers. Studying the dogs can possibly help find treatments for human genetic problems since this relates to us too.
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It would be an interesting to cure wrinkles and fevers at the same time! A very interesting find that the over production of a certain acid is to blame. Good read!
ReplyDeleteBreeding dogs to avoid this gene mutation is a very good idea. It was the breeding however that caused this mutation in the first place. Inbreeding and cross breeding of dogs has cause not only this mutation but other potential dangerous gene mutations in dogs. Breeders should look more into the effects of there breeding on the genes of the dogs before they breed certain species. With more study's of this gene hopefully this wont happen to any other species of dogs in the future. With more knowledge of its application to humans however it would be interesting to see if scientists can help find cures for fevers and maybe even wrinkles.
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