The best friend of the man outdoors

2004/09/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Genetika

The first draft of the dog’s genome has been published and made available to researchers by the NHGRI organization dedicated to human genome research. In fact, the genome published is that of a boxer, that of Tasha. It seems that among the 60 races have chosen boxer, one of the least genetic differences between them.

Now the genomes of the dog and man are being compared. The sequences of both have a similar length and some diseases difficult to investigate in humans are much more common in some canine races. This is because some breed dogs can suffer from cancer, heart problems, deafness, blindness, or autoimmune problems. In addition, the dog is a very used animal as a model in pharmaceutical research and in the study of the genetic characteristics of behavior.

For a better study of canine diseases have been identified markers not only in the genome of Tasha, but also in dogs of other nine races, four wolves and a coiote.