Scientists identify cat genome

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 today in the journal Genome Research.
“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 illness, and researchers said the genome mapping should allow further medical breakthroughs.
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.