Cat Genome
The BBC reports: Cat joins exclusive genome club
A pedigree cat called Cinnamon has made scientific history by becoming the first feline to have its DNA decoded.
The domestic cat now joins the select club of mammals whose genome has been deciphered – including dogs, chimps, rats, mice, cows and people.
…Cinnamon, a four-year-old Abyssinian cat, is descended from lab cats bred to develop retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease, also found in humans, which can lead to blindness.
Earlier this year, with the help of the sequence, scientists found the gene change, or mutation, that causes the condition in cats.
…
“We can start to interpret them in terms of one of evolution’s special creations, which is also probably one of the greatest predators that ever lived,” said Dr Stephen O’Brien of the US National Cancer Institute, who spearheaded the project.
…“One thing I’d like to discover is the genes for good behaviour in the cats – the genes for domestication, the things that make them not want to kill our children but play with them,” he added.
Many reasons for posting this, but one is that retinitis pigmentosa is a problem in my family and I have a personal interest in research on the condition. Just as Alzheimers slowly steals someone’s brain, RP steals their sight. [I’m not affected, and, in fact, have much better than average peripheral and night vision.]
Obviously I’m hoping for more research into “cat fits” which can be harmful to health of silly humans who have a tendency to be perceived as trees during such episodes.
7 comments
cats without the cat fits?? inconceiveable.
If they can have cats without hair, why not without fits?
hard for me to think of those as cats. baby possums are probably cuter.
They remind me of Gollum.
oh now, they’re not that ugly.
i’m as fascinated as the next person [maybe more so] about all this — making fluorescent green pigs, what genes keep your cat from eating your kid, etc — and would love to have this knowledge, but i don’t want them to actually make designer cats [dogs, horses, cows, etc].
There’s no need to even consider any changes that don’t involve better health.
I like that fact that the discovery of FIV (feline immunodeficiency virus) led to the development of many cancer drugs being used today. It’s always interesting where scientists find their “cures”.