Inbreeding caused Snowflake albinism - RTVE

name”> class=”by

Snowflake, the only known albino gorilla so far , was a symbol of Barcelona Zoo. Now, ten years after his death, scientists at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology have its entire genome sequenced and found that the relationship of their parents caused his albinism .

The researchers explain that to be albino, both parents must be carriers of the mutation of a gene, SLC45A2, which also causes albinism in humans-something that happened in the case of Floquet because his parents were familiar, probably uncle and niece .

“When there are cases of inbreeding, the same genetic material of an ancestor is found in duplicate on an individual,” explained the researcher from the University Pompeu Fabra and study director, Tomas Marques Bonet, who has detailed the progenitors of Snowflake had a 12% consanguinity .

kinship parents Snowflake has surprised scientists, because “never been able to find inbreeding in western gorillas,” as detailed researcher Javier Prado. Normally this species lives in groups led by one dominant male the following several females and their offspring, who must emigrate when they reach adulthood.

However, in the forests of Equatorial Guinea in which Snowflake discovered in 1966, found that dominant males of different groups of gorillas are related.

Snowflake class=”ladillo”>

was precisely the lack of pigmentation which fostered the development of skin cancer in the animal , which caused his death in 2003. The research may also have a major impact on the study of the conservation of endangered species.

albinism is the lack of melanin -the pigment that gives color-, so Snowflake had blue eyes, pink skin and white hair as well as reduced visual acuity and photophobia, increased sensitivity to sunlight.

The study, which was published in the journal BMC Genomics , has been led by the Institute of Evolutionary Biology, created by the University Pompeu Fabra and the CSIC, and has enjoyed the cooperation of Barcelona Zoo, the National Genome Analysis Center, which hosted the gorilla genome sequencing, the University of Valencia, the Andalusian Centre for Developmental Biology (CSIC joint center, the Junta de Andalucía and the University Pablo de Olavide) of Seville, and the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Also participating universities of Washington in Seattle and Leipzig.