Sequenced Pig Genome Could Help Combat Human Diseases

An anonymous reader writes "Scientists announced Wednesday that they have mapped the entire genome of the domestic pig, revealing that besides providing tasty bacon and sausages, the animal may also be useful in fighting human diseases. The study published in the journal Nature found that pigs and humans share 112 DNA mutations that have previously been linked to diseases like obesity, diabetes, dyslexia, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, according to US and European researchers. Researchers said that because pigs share many of the same complex genetic diseases as humans, the animals would serve as excellent models for studying the underlying biology of human disease."

Comments

Glad to see more work in this realm

[Kotoku]

Glad to see more work in this realm, as we already have seen a high organ compatibility with pigs it seems that we know a number of building blocks are already shared. With this kind of information we should be able to better isolate and (ethically) create both genetic changes and medicines to treat these diseases that would potentially hold a high efficacy in humans.

Re:Glad to see more work in this realm

[Kotoku]

Hmm, I suppose that since primary objections relate to ingestion that at least non-oral treatments/medicines would already be fairly unobjectionable. Now if oral medicines are biologically derived and cannot be done so without the pig as an intermediary...then yes that would be an interesting predicament for some .. folks. Not me though, just hide the pill in a sausage and I'll be a test subject.

Delays

[girlintraining]

... Researchers would have finished the work sooner, but they were just so damned tasty.

Re:Humm.. So we share the same diseases

[Samantha Wright]

It's not the eating, it's the living conditions. We've kept pigs sheltered enough that they can experience the same problems as us, and suffer the same consequences. In a less safe environment, avoiding defects like obesity would be a much stronger selective pressure—but that's not a big deal in a pig pen.

Re:Humm.. So we share the same diseases

[c0lo]

Wonder why ? Maybe us eating pigs for the last oh-how-many-hundred-years might have something to do with it ? Wouldn't it be easier to treat these diseases by not eating the pigs in the first place ..

You are what you eat. If we eat disease carrying pigs, we become those pigs. Have you seen some of the people who eat a lot of pig ? Their faces even start to resemble the animal.

How would you explain jewish and muslim people that are still obese/diabetic/etc even they didn't eat pig meat?

Re:How on earth....

[srussia]

...do you diagnose dyslexia in pigs?

They make a weird "knoi-knoi" sound.

Re:Humm.. So we share the same diseases

[somersault]

Well, actually.. looky here.