Grunt work: Scientists decode pig genome

Google – AFP, 14 November 2012

The domestic pig is already used extensively in medical research, due to

its anatomical similarity to humans (AFP/File, Philippe Huguen)

PARIS — Scientists said Wednesday they had laid bare the genetic code of the pig, revealing that besides providing ham, bacon and sausages, the domestic swine may also be useful in fighting human diseases.

Pigs and humans share 112 DNA mutations which in Man have been linked to obesity, diabetes, dyslexia, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, a team from the United States and Europe found.

"We have the chance to study (in pigs) how these genes interact with others to cause obesity, diabetes or other diseases," Denis Milan, head of animal genetics at France's National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA), told AFP.

"This suggests that for some studies, including testing drugs and therapies, pigs may be a useful model for predicting outcomes in humans," added co-author Alan Archibald from the University of Edinburgh.

The domestic pig, Sus scrofa domesticus, is already used extensively in medical research, due to its anatomical similarity to humans.

Pig heart valves are being used by surgeons to replace faulty human ones.

"Now we can use pigs for looking at genetic diseases" as well, said co-author Lawrence Schook from the University of Illinois.

This could include "making genetically modified animals to create human disease models."

The sequencing of the genome also holds promise for improvements in the pig's more traditional role since being domesticated over 10,000 years ago -- that of serving as dinner.

Scientists now have more tools at their disposal to breed a new generation of super-pigs that will yield more meat for less feed, bear more piglets and resist disease better.

The team has developed a test with which they can identify individual pigs with a genetic predisposition to growing fat fast, survive long and bear many offspring.

"The DNA test information can be used... as a basis for selecting the animals which will be used to breed the next generation," explained Archibald.

The sequencing project, which saw the domestic pig's genome compared to that of the wild boar, human, mouse, dog, horse and cow, also revealed a "clear" genetic distinction between European and Asian pigs.

The ancestor of the domestic pig, which resembles today's wild boar, first emerged in Southeast Asia and migrated across Eurasia.

The two groups were separated for so long, including by ice ages, that they became almost sub-species.

The findings adds to evidence "that pigs were independently domesticated in western Eurasia and East Asia", the authors wrote in the paper published in the journal Nature.

They also found that of the species examined, pigs had the most olfactory receptor genes -- underlining the importance of smell in the scavenger animal's lifestyle.

The swine also had fewer bitter taste receptors, meaning that "pigs can eat food that is unpalatable to humans" -- another reason they have become such a highly valued farm animal.

More of human DNA is active
than was thought

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"The Quantum Factor" – Apr 10, 2011 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Galaxies, Universe, Intelligent design, Benevolent design, Aliens, Nikola Tesla (Quantum energy), Inter-Planetary Travel, DNA, Genes, Stem Cells, Cells, Rejuvenation, Shift of Human Consciousness, Spontaneous Remission, Religion, Dictators, Africa, China, Nuclear Power, Sustainable Development, Animals, Global Unity.. etc.) - (Text Version)

"..... DNA - A Quantum Force 

Now let me take you to the very small. Over a decade ago, Vladimir Poponin, a Russian scientist, used light in an experiment with one molecule of DNA. Through this experiment, he discovered a multidimensional field around DNA. Light patterned itself into a mathematical equation [sine wave] when DNA was present. He discovered that DNA had a quantum field. Not only that, it was a quantum field somehow filled with information. How else could the field pattern light into a sine wave? Now, this came from a quantum biologist, not Kryon. Yet there are many who doubt this experiment ever happened, since it shows something that no Human expected. There are those who simply don't wish to look at the fact that real quantum biologists did a real experiment! They chose to relegate all that information to the new age and not to science. It's always interesting what Humans do with science, isn't it? If it doesn't fit the 3D model of their reality, then they deny it exists.

When the full Human genome was transcribed, every single chemical in it was seen. The numbers are shocking, for in a molecule that is so small you cannot see it without an electron microscope, there are more than 3 billion chemicals! The double helix is more complex than you know. This molecule is small enough to be qualified to be in a quantum state, and Vladimir Poponin showed that it actually had a field around it, even a single DNA molecule.

Those who did the Human Genome Project wanted to know how the 3 billion chemicals of DNA create more than 26,000 genes of the Human body. By the way, there are more genes than that, but I'm using the scientists' numbers, not mine. So this is what they were interested in. They did not see DNA in a quantum state. They were not looking for that, even though the very science of DNA shouts with logic that it has to be quantum. They weren't looking for that. Instead, they counted chemicals and looked for codes, and they found them in a very odd arrangement.

They discovered that of the 3 billion chemicals in the DNA double helix, all the genes were being created in the protein-encoded parts of DNA. Three and a half percent of DNA was creating all the genes. More than 90% of the chemical makeup of DNA seemed to be random. It did absolutely nothing - that they could see or understand. Even to this day, science does not see the obvious, that the 90% is quantum and the 3.5% is linear.

Today, your quantum physicists are often dealing with ten dimensions plus time (11 dimensions) in the most popular kind of multi-dimensional physics, string theory. If you began to ask them about what this all looks like, they would say the words, "chaos" and "random patterning." For this is the way that quantum fields work. They are filled with potentials instead of absolutes, and they vary depending on many factors... including Human consciousness. Someday there will be the realization there is a strong possibility that DNA, although a biological molecule, is in a quantum state. This will break the rules of "size" in a quantum state. For it actually is "mostly quantum," and even affects the spin of the atoms that enter its field. Then the next obvious question will occur: "What information is in the ninety percent of DNA that is quantum?"

Now we get to the core truth, don't we? So I will tell you. The ninety percent of DNA which is quantum, is filled with information, both esoteric and timeless. It is a quantum blueprint for everything you are and have been since you arrived on the planet the first time. DNA contains instruction sets for your life; everything from your full Akashic Record - every single lifetime you have had - to the benevolent creator's fingerprint within the seeds of creation itself. Every single talent you ever had is there, even if you don't have any of those today... the record is there. Every predisposition of weakness and strength are there. Biologically, every single instruction to every single stem cell is there.

Did you ever wonder where stem cells get their "information" to make the Human Being? It's in the 90% of your DNA, and it's all quantum. Why do some quantum DNA contain instructions to create weaker bodies? Why is it that some predispositions for disease are there? Now I'm giving you this information so that you will understand something that is coming next... perhaps the most important biological attribute ever presented. ..."