Cancer normally lives and dies with the person whom it
consumes, right? Well at least normally it does; however, this is not the case
with a sexually transmitted cancer in dogs. Yes, dogs can get cancer in the
form of an STD. This particular type of sexually transmitted cancer has
continued living within the dog population for the past 11,000 years.
Scientists have finally sequenced the genome of the world’s oldest continuously
surviving caner. This cancer causes awful genital tumors and has been a
reoccurring form since 11,000 years ago and has had over two million mutations.
Compared to human forms of cancer which have a mere 1,000 to 5,000 mutations,
this is insane. Why is this important? Sequencing this genome has proved that
given the right conditions, cancer can live for at least 10,000 years even
though it has countless mutations involved. The string of cancer can be linked
all the way back to the original dog that was said to have it. Although they
now have an idea that the original dog was an Alaskan Malamute, they do not
know how it originally came to be. Having this information will help us
understand how to handle the rare, but occasional cases of transmissible cancer
in humans.
This article was very well constructed and had a lot of
information that helped the article flow smoothly. There seemed to be a good
balance of facts that were backed up with evidence and quotes. I would say that
this article was very well written and formed to appropriately give the
information.
Article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140123141742.htm
Image: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140123141742.htm
