在喬治-奧威爾的經(jīng)典小說《動物莊園》中，豬和人類幾乎一模一樣,。根據(jù)一項新的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，現(xiàn)實世界中的豬確與《動物莊園》所描述的那樣,。通過迄今為止規(guī)模最大的豬基因組研究,，科學家發(fā)現(xiàn)豬擁有很強的適應能力，容易被食物誘惑和馴化,，這些特征都與人類非常相似,。
根據(jù)刊登在《自然》雜志上的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，豬擁有與人類相同的與很多人類疾病有關的基因和蛋白質(zhì)變異,，例如阿爾茨海默病,、帕金森氏癥以及肥胖癥。研究人員指出,，通過進一步研究,，豬的基因可以孕育出新療法，對抗這些疾病,。首席研究員,、荷蘭瓦赫寧根大學的馬蒂恩-格羅內(nèi)教授表示：“我們發(fā)現(xiàn)了很多與人類疾病有關的基因變異，進一步證明豬是一個非常有價值的生物醫(yī)藥學模型,。”
此外,，這項研究也揭示了人類如何馴化第一批家豬以及如何飼養(yǎng)豬以獲取豬肉背后的一些秘密。現(xiàn)代家豬的祖先最初出現(xiàn)在東南亞,，逐漸遷移到歐亞大陸,。豬擁有敏銳的嗅覺，能夠嗅探出微小的氣味差異,，但它們的味覺很差,。豬的苦味受體基因少于人類，對甜味和肉味的感知也與人類截然不同,。
愛丁堡大學教授,，參與此項研究的艾倫-阿奇巴爾德指出：“了解影響豬特性的基因有助于揭示它們?nèi)绾伪蝗祟愸Z化以及為何被馴化?？赡艿脑蛟谟冢核鼈兛梢猿砸恍┤祟惓云饋砦兜篮懿畹氖澄?。了解現(xiàn)代豬的基因起源非常重要,，因為我們需要大量繁育豬以滿足日趨增長的豬肉需求，同時還要提高豬抵御新老疾病的能力,。”
此項具有突破性的研究由蘇格蘭,、美國和荷蘭科學家進行，是迄今為止進行的最深入而全面的家豬及野豬基因組分析,。研究發(fā)現(xiàn)對豬的養(yǎng)殖具有重要意義,。目前，全球每年喂養(yǎng)的豬數(shù)量超過10億頭,。家牛的祖先已經(jīng)滅絕,，相比之下，豬仍有遠親生活在野外,。研究人員表示可以利用在野豬身上發(fā)現(xiàn)的基因進一步優(yōu)化家豬繁育,。研究論文執(zhí)筆人之一的鮑勃-伊斯特表示：“這項研究證明對家畜及其近親的基礎基因組研究能夠讓我們?nèi)祟愂芤妗＿@項研究對農(nóng)業(yè)具有重要意義,，有助于我們了解豬的進化,，同時也有助于藥物的研發(fā)。”（生物谷Bioon.com）
doi:10.1038/nature11622
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Analyses of pig genomes provide insight into porcine demography and evolution
Martien A. M. Groenen, Alan L. Archibald, Hirohide Uenishi, Christopher K. Tuggle, Yasuhiro Takeuchi, Max F. Rothschild, Claire Rogel-Gaillard, Chankyu Park, Denis Milan, Hendrik-Jan Megens, Shengting Li, Denis M. Larkin, Heebal Kim, Laurent A. F. Frantz, Mario Caccamo, Hyeonju Ahn, Bronwen L. Aken, Anna Anselmo, Christian Anthon, Loretta Auvi, Bouabid Badaoui, Craig W. Beattie, Christian Bendixen,Daniel Berman, Frank Blecha, Jonas Blomberg, Lars Bolund, Mirte Bosse, Sara Botti, Zhan Bujie, Megan Bystrom, Boris Capitanu, Denise Carvalho-Silva, Patrick Chardon, Celine Chen, Ryan Cheng, Sang-Haeng Choi, William Chow, Richard C. Clark, Christopher Clee, Richard P. M. A. Crooijmans, Harry D. Dawson, Patrice Dehais, Fioravante De Sapio, Bert Dibbits, Nizar Drou, Zhi-Qiang Du, Kellye Eversole, Jo?o Fadista, Susan Fairley, Thomas Faraut, Geoffrey J. Faulkner, Katie E. Fowler, Merete Fredholm, Eric Fritz, James G. R. Gilbert, Elisabetta Giuffra, Jan Gorodkin, Darren K. Griffin, Jennifer L. Harrow, Alexander Hayward, Kerstin Howe, Zhi-Liang Hu, Sean J. Humphray, Toby Hunt, Henrik Hornshj, Jin-Tae Jeon, Patric Jern, Matthew Jones, Jerzy Jurka, Hiroyuki Kanamori, Ronan Kapetanovic, Jaebum Kim, Jae-Hwan Kim, Kyu-Won Kim, Tae-Hun Kim, Greger Larson, Kyooyeol Lee, Kyung-Tai Lee, Richard Leggett, Harris A. Lewin, Yingrui Li, Wansheng Liu, Jane E. Loveland, Yao Lu, Joan K. Lunney, Jian Ma, Ole Madsen, Katherine Mann, Lucy Matthews, Stuart McLaren, Takeya Morozumi, Michael P. Murtaugh, Jitendra Narayan, Dinh Truong Nguyen, Peixiang Ni, Song-Jung Oh, Suneel Onteru, Frank Panitz, Eung-Woo Park, Hong-Seog Park, Geraldine Pascal, Yogesh Paudel, Miguel Perez-Enciso, Ricardo Ramirez-Gonzalez, James M. Reecy, Sandra Rodriguez-Zas, Gary A. Rohrer, Lauretta Rund, Yongming Sang, Kyle Schachtschneider, Joshua G. Schraiber, John Schwartz, Linda Scobie, Carol Scott, Stephen Searle, Bertrand Servin, Bruce R. Southey, Goran Sperber, Peter Stadler, Jonathan V. Sweedler, Hakim Tafer, Bo Thomsen, Rashmi Wali, Jian Wang, Jun Wang, Simon White, Xun Xu, Martine Yerle, Guojie Zhang, Jianguo Zhang, Jie Zhang, Shuhong Zhao, Jane Rogers, Carol Churcher & Lawrence B. Schook et al.
For 10,000 years pigs and humans have shared a close and complex relationship. From domestication to modern breeding practices, humans have shaped the genomes of domestic pigs. Here we present the assembly and analysis of the genome sequence of a female domestic Duroc pig (Sus scrofa) and a comparison with the genomes of wild and domestic pigs from Europe and Asia. Wild pigs emerged in South East Asia and subsequently spread across Eurasia. Our results reveal a deep phylogenetic split between European and Asian wild boars ~1 million years ago, and a selective sweep analysis indicates selection on genes involved in RNA processing and regulation. Genes associated with immune response and olfaction exhibit fast evolution. Pigs have the largest repertoire of functional olfactory receptor genes, reflecting the importance of smell in this scavenging animal. The pig genome sequence provides an important resource for further improvements of this important livestock species, and our identification of many putative disease-causing variants extends the potential of the pig as a biomedical model.
