inbreeding Equatorial Guinea jungle between two gorilla very close (with 12% inbreeding), surely incest between uncle and niece, caused the Snowflake albinism. This is one of the conclusions of the study which has allowed sequence the albino gorilla, which for nearly 40 years was the symbol of Barcelona Zoo and one of the icons of the city. SLC45A2 is the name of the gene responsible for albinism in the gorilla, according to research. The same gene is the cause of albinism in other species such as mouse, horse and chickens.
The research, published in BMC Genomics and presented yesterday at the Barcelona zoo, was led by scientists at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE), a joint center of the University Pompeu Fabra (UPF) and the National Research Council ( CSIC).
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- dies ‘Snowflake’
genome sequencing opens the way to explore new methodologies in the field of conservation genetics of endangered species. It also makes it much easier, as explained yesterday two of the authors of the study, Tomas Marques (who directed) and Javier Prado, the possibility of creating a new albino gorilla. “It is very simple and requires no engineering or genetic manipulation some” they said, “just the mutation of this gene into two gorillas and cross them. You have a 25% chance it leaves another albino “. Another thing is, they warned, the ethical implications of bringing the world an animal with an impairment such as albinism.
Snowflakepaid dearly for that fame-although initially its coloration saved him and delivered him out of ending to the pot when Guinean hunters captured him in 1966 and sold to Jordi Sabater Pi, his putative father-: albinism have serious drawbacks such as photophobia, reduced visual acuity and susceptibility to skin cancer, which was what finally ended the blue-eyed white gorilla. Not to mention the abuse he was subjected for the offspring.
Snowflake,
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