Down syndrome is a genetic disease that occurs in humans for different causes and is a common congenital disease, most diseases that affect humans are not unique to the human species, in fact, in fact, it is often possible to find animals with pathologies that also affect humans Some pathologies associated with the aging process or a decrease in the capacity of the immune system in humans have the same causes and associations in animals.
This brings you to the next question, are there animals with Down syndrome?If you want to know if animals may or may not have Down syndrome, continue reading this Animal Expert article to clarify this question.
- To clarify this question.
- It is first and foremos sorry to know what this pathology is and what mechanisms make it appear in humans.
Human genetic information is contained in chromosomes, chromosomes are structures formed by DNA and proteins with a very high level of organization, which contain the genetic sequence and therefore largely determine the nature of the organism and in many cases the pathologies it presents.That.
Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes and Down syndrome is a pathology that has a genetic cause, as people affected by this pathology have an additional copy of chromosome 21, which instead of being a pair, are three.The syndrome is medically known as chromosome 21 trisomy.
This genetic alteration is responsible for the physical traits that we see in people with Down syndrome that are accompanied by a certain degree of cognitive impairment and changes in growth and muscle tissue, and Down syndrome is also linked to an increased risk of develop other diseases.
In the case of Down syndrome, it is an exclusively human disease, since the chromosomal organization of humans is different from that of animals.
However, it is obvious that animals also have some genetic information with a specific sequence, in fact gorillas have a DNA that is equal to human DNA at a percentage of 97 to 98%.
Because animals also have ordered genetic sequences on chromosomes (chromosome pairs depend on each species), they can suffer from trisomy of certain chromosomes and these result in cognitive and physiological difficulties, as well as anatomical changes that give them a characteristic state.
This occurs, for example, in lab rats that have trisomy on chromosome 16.To conclude this question, we must keep the following statement: animals may undergo genetic changes and trisomy on some chromosomes, but it is NOT possible to have animals with Down, as it is an exclusively human disease caused by trisomy on chromosome 21.
If you want to continue learning more about the animal world, check out our article that answers the question: are animals laughing?
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