The detailed study of the pig genome has revealed that swine suffer from the same genetic and protein malfunctions that are responsible for several human diseases, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and obesity.
This path breaking study that is focused on largest genome analysis ever of the domestic pig and its wild boar counterparts was done by scientists in Scotland, America and the Netherlands. The findings of the study were published in the journals Nature.
The researchers are of the opinion that further study can show ways to combat these devastating diseases.
"We identified many more gene variants implicated in human disease, further supporting the pig as a valuable biomedical model," Professor Martien Groenen, a principal investigator on the study has been quoted saying in the Daily Mail quoted.
The study also revealed that wild boar originated in Southeast Asia about 4 million years ago and said that its domestication started nearly 10,000 years ago, in several independent locations all over the European and Asian land mass
"This work has important implications for agriculture, contributes to our understanding of evolution and will aid in human medicine," said Bob Easter, one of the study's authors.
--with inputs from ANI
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