Scientists identify the cat genome, a breakthrough

This breakthrough provides opportunities for studying human illnesses, and can allow further medical discoveries

WASHINGTON: Scientists have mapped the genome of the domestic cat, raising hopes that the genetic identification of the seventh mammal to date will open the path to new research advances for humans.   

US researchers sequenced the DNA of a four-year-old Abyssinian cat named Cinnamon whose lineage traces back to Sweden, said the findings published on Wednesday, in the journal Genome Research. Cinnamon is one of a number of test mammals currently undergoing comparative analysis involving genetic research performed on cats and other mammals.
   
“The similarity between the cat genome and six recently completed mammalian genomes (human, chimpanzee, mouse, rat, dog and cow) allowed the scientists to identify 20,285 putative genes in the cat genome,” the study said. “The comparison also revealed hundreds of chromosomal rearrangements that have occurred among the different lineages of mammals since they diverged from a diminutive ancestor that roamed the earth among the dinosaurs some 100 million years ago. The domestic cat provides valuable opportunities for studying human illnesses, and researchers said the genome mapping should allow further medical breakthroughs. The potential for studying human disease via the cat model was the reason why the National Human Genome Research Institute initially authorised the cat genome sequencing project three years ago, the report said. 
  
“Domestic cats possess over 250 naturally occurring hereditary disorders, many of which are similar to genetic pathologies in humans,” it said. 
  
Among the key areas for research are feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), a genetic relative of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS; as well as retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease that can lead to blindness and in humans affects 1 in 3,500 Americans.   

Researchers were also able to identify hundreds of thousands of genomic variants, “which can be used to determine the genetic basis for common hereditary diseases.” The variants can be “useful for parentage testing, forensic analysis, and studies of evolution, including the reconstruction of domestication processes, fancy breed development, and ecological adaptation among the great roaring cats.” According to another study based in part on the cat genome research and published in June by researcher Stephen O’Brien, the first house cat was a mouse and rat hunter who proved friendly to humans and lived in the Middle East 10,000 years ago. 
 
Researchers have also been able to trace the origins 100,000 years ago of the first ‘Adam and Eve’ of cats, but there is no evidence of domestication during this period.