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INTRO---- HI I’M CATIE WAYNE AND THIS IS ANIMALIST
NEWS! CHILD OBESITY HAS FALLEN NEARLY FOURTEEN PERCENT
IN THE PAST DECADE, BUT ARE CALICO CATS THE KEY TO A CURE?
ONE OF THE MOST NOTORIOUSLY LAZY ANIMALS IS HELPING SCIENTISTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
SAN FRANCISCO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE GENETICS OF OBESITY.
CALICO CATS, WHICH ARE USUALLY FEMALE, CARRY AN ORANGE FUR COLOR GENE ON ONE X CHROMOSOME
AND A BLACK FUR GENE ON THE OTHER. THESE CHROMOSOMES CAN RANDOMLY BE TURNED ON
AND OFF IN ORDER TO CREATE A CALICO’S MIXED COAT IN A PROCESS CALLED GENE SILENCING.
RESEARCHERS HOPE THIS UNIQUE CHROMOSOME STRUCTURE WILL HELP SOLVE HOW TRAITS IN HUMANS CAN BE
MUTED. USING A NEW IMAGING TECHNOLOGY CALLED SOFT
X RAY TOMOGRAPHY, THEY ARE ABLE TO VIEW SPECIFIC INACTIVE X CHROMOSOMES.
AS IT TURNS OUT, EACH CHROMOSOME HAS MULTIPLE PARTS WHICH MAY BE RESPONSIBLE FOR X CHROMOSOME
LINKED DISORDERS SUCH AS BREAST CANCER, HEMOPHILIA, INTERSEX CONDITIONS, AND YOU GUESSED IT- BODY
FAT DISTRIBUTION. THESE TRAITS PASS DOWN FAMILY LINES JUST LIKE
HOW YOU MIGHT BE SUSCEPTIBLE TO A DISEASE BECAUSE YOUR GRANDPARENTS HAD IT.
SO IF SCIENTISTS ARE ABLE TO REGULATE CERTAIN CHROMOSOMES, THEY COULD EVENTUALLY CONTROL
CERTAIN INHERITED TENDENCIES TOWARDS OBESITY. THE NEXT STEP IS TO FIND OUT HOW MANY DIFFERENT
GENES CAN BE SILENCED WITHOUT CHANGING THE UNDERLYING DNA SEQUENCE.
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