Researchers from Aarhus University have conducted extensive genetic analyses of both pigs and humans to identify similarities and differences. This newfound knowledge can be utilized to ensure the health of pigs for farmers and assist the pharmaceutical industry in breeding improved laboratory pigs for testing new medications.
Pigs have long been utilized in the development and testing of new medications, despite being larger, more expensive, and more challenging to use in experiments compared to rats and mice.
Now, pigs may become even more valuable as laboratory animals due to the efforts of researchers from the Center for Quantitative Genetics and Genomics at Aarhus University, who have mapped the most significant genetic similarities between pigs and humans. Their research has been published in Nature Genetics.
The researchers have not only identified the genes that are shared between humans and pigs, but they have also identified the “transcriptome” across various tissue types. While the genome encompasses all the genes present in the DNA of our cells, whether active or inactive, the transcriptome includes the genes that are active in different types of cells within our bodies, explains Lingzhao Fang, one of the prominent researchers involved in the study.
“We examined the activity and regulation of genes in 34 different tissue types in pigs and compared them to similar studies conducted in humans. We analyzed everything from testicular tissue to skin cells and various brain cells,” he says. He further adds, ”No study of this scale and comprehensiveness has ever been conducted before, and we hope that this new knowledge can make a significant impact in agriculture and the pharmaceutical industry.”
2024-01-09 13:00:08
Article from phys.org rnrn