【英语拓展阅读】 外研六Module 5 Cloning阅读表达.docVIP

【英语拓展阅读】 外研六Module 5 Cloning阅读表达Dog epilepsy gene Epilepsy, a condition that affects the nerve system, is more common in dogs than it is in humans. Both dogs and humans with the disease can lead healthy, normal lives, but it causes seizures that can sometimes be dangerous. Scientists have now identified a genetic sudden change responsible for epilepsy in dogs. With this information, they have also developed a test that can determine whether a dog has the sudden change. Dog owners might someday use this test to help make sure they are keeping healthy dogs. The research also shows that studying dog genes can be useful for understanding human diseases. Because of the way that dogs are bred, some dog versions of diseases can be more common in certain kinds of dogs and easier to study than they are in humans. For example, more than 5 percent of the purebred Miniature Wirehaired Dachshunds in the United Kingdom have a certain type of epilepsy. The dogs have small seizures that make their teeth chatter and their eyes blink rapidly, and sometimes they have more severe seizures that make them unconscious for short periods of time. Hannes Lohi of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada and his colleagues figured out that the Dachshunds had a form of epilepsy thats called Lafora disease in humans. Lafora disease is extremely rare in people, but it occurs more frequently in Basset Hounds, Poodles, Pointers, Dachshunds and other purebred dogs. Its a very serious disease in humans but its a lot milder in dogs. The sudden change that Lohi and his colleagues identified occurred in the Miniature Wirehaired Dachshunds and other dogs with the disease, and it can also occur in other closely related species like wolves and coyotes. Each animal needs to take over a changed copy of the gene from both its mother and father in order for the gene to cause epilepsy. If a species is endangered and has only a few members, if the sudden change occurs, say in an endangered wolf,