防过敏猫咪高价入市
Allergy-free cat goes on sale for ?2,500The Daily Mail - For allergic animal lovers, it's the answer to a prayer. An American firm has bred a cat it claims is 'allergy free'.
Allergic reactions to animals are caused by a protein that is excreted in saliva, skin glands and urine. The special felines were selectively bred by reducing this trigger protein.
The hypoallergenic felines are now on sale in America and will appeal to people who would normally develop red eyes, sneezing runny noses and breathing difficulties when around cats.
However, the cat will cost far more than one from your local shelter. Prices start at ?2,000 each - plus a ?500 shipping fee. Despite this there is already a long waiting list.
California-based biotech firm Allerca tested thousands of cats trying to find the tiny fraction that do not carry the glycoprotein Fel D1, which produces allergies. Those cats were then used to breed the hypoallergenic cats.
Company spokesman Steve May said it was a natural method. He said: "This is a natural gene divergence within the cat DNA - one out of 50,000 cats will have this divergence.
"So naturally divergent cats were found and then bred so there is really no modification of the gene."
In the US alone 38 million households own a cat, and around the world an estimated one in three humans suffer from allergies.
对于喜欢动物但又对它们过敏的人来说，他们的祈祷应验了。一家美国的动物公司已经培育出一种据称是“防过敏”的猫咪。
对动物的过敏反应源于一种存在于唾液，皮腺和尿液中的蛋白质。这种特别的猫咪是经过筛选培育出来的，以减少这种引发过敏反应的蛋白质。
现在这种低致敏性的猫已经在美国上市，将吸引那些一走近猫咪就出现红眼，打喷嚏流鼻涕以及呼吸困难症状的人。
但是，它的售价远远高于普通猫咪，起价就高达两千镑（合3950美圆） 还得再加500镑（合1000美圆）的运费。尽管如此，早有一长串定单等着呢。
位于美国加州的生物科学公司Allerca化验了成千上万的猫咪，就是为了找到极少数不携带致敏物质- 蛋白质Fel D1- 的小猫。然后这些经过千挑万选的猫被用来繁殖低致敏性的后代。
公司发言人史迪夫.梅说他们所采取的是自然手段。他说：“这是在猫的DNA里存在的自然的基因差异 每5万只猫里有一只具有这种差异。”
“所以我们找出这些有自然差异的猫，再用他们繁殖后代。这不是人为地转变基因。”
仅在美国就有3800万家庭养猫。据估计在全世界每三个人中就有一个对动物过敏。
1. allergic 过敏的
2. breed 繁殖
3. allergy free 防过敏
4. excrete 分泌
5. saliva 唾液
6. gland 腺
7. urine 尿
8. hypoallergenic 低应变原
9. feline 猫科动物
10. appeal to 吸引
11. sneezing runny nose 打喷嚏流鼻涕
12. fraction 小部分
13. divergence 分歧
14. modification 修正
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