The recent publication of the assembly, analysis and annotation of the genome sequence of a female Duroc pig (Sus scrofa) may pay off big for medical research as well as for agricultural production. Although pigs are larger, more expensive to house and slower to reproduce than other common lab animals such as rodents, they share anatomical and physiological characteristics with humans that make them valuable models. Pig models have been established for diseases including retinitis pigmentosa, cystic fibrosis and diabetes and have been proposed for other conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, muscular dystrophy and certain types of cancer. Potentially aiding the development of these and other models, the pig genome report identifies 112 gene variants found in pigs that might also be involved in human diseases (Nature 491, 393-398; 2012). Obesity, diabetes, dyslexia, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease were all named in the report.
The sequence information may also benefit scientists working on transplants, who hope to engineer transgenic pigs that could be used as organ donors for humans.
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