Canine Genetic Wrinkle Has Human Potential

Shar-peis are an ancient Chinese dog breed characterized by two singular traits; thick wrinkly skin and frequent bouts of fever.  Researchers now say that the same gene mutation is responsible for both the wrinkles and the fever.

“All shar-pei dogs have this mutation that causes the wrinkles, but the more copies they have, the higher the risk to have this fever,” said Mia Olsson, a doctoral student at Uppsala University in Sweden who worked on the study.

It was already known that the wrinkles were a result of excess production of a substance called hyaluronic acid distributed throughout the dogs’ skin. That excess is likely caused by to the overactivation of a gene called hyaluronan synthase 2.

“Our highest priority right now is to see if there’s some way to create some kind of test or tool to reduce the number of dogs with the fevers,” she Ms. Olsson.  The fever closely resembles certain periodic fevers that humans inherit, and studying the mutation in the dogs could help human geneticists develop treatments.

I am more concerned with the wrinkle cure. Yet, I suppose its good that by observing the genetic mutations in these wrinkly pugs could possibly lead to a genetic solution of fevers among humans.  I think its amazing how geneticists can configure DNA from a dog to ours.