Cats Claw Their Way into Genomics

The genetic sequencing of cats has now officially taken off

The first cat genome sequence from an Abyssinian named Cinnamon was reported in 2007. Credit:Valerius Geng via Wikimedia Commons

Cats may have beaten dogs on the Internet but felines have been a rare breed in genetics labs compared with their canine counterparts. Now, at last, cats are clawing their way into genomics.

At a meeting this week in San Diego, California, a close-knit group of geneticists unveiled the first results from an effort to sequence the genomes of 99 domestic cats. The work will benefit both humans and felines, the researchers say, by mapping the mutations underlying conditions that afflict the two species, such as kidney disease.

Its a great time to be in cat genomics, says William Murphy, a geneticist at Texas A&M University in College Station who is involved in the effort. Plummeting costs for DNA sequencing now make it possible to do genomics cheaply and cat genomics, long under-funded compared with similar efforts in dogs, is benefiting, he says. Were finally at the point where we can do all sorts of things we wanted to do 5 or 10years ago.

The first cat genome sequence from an Abyssinian named Cinnamon was reported in 2007. But the sequence contained significant gaps and errors, which slowed efforts to map genes. A high-quality version of Cinnamons genome was not publisheduntil late 2014. Domestic dogs, meanwhile, have become a darling of geneticists: their full genomewas reported in 2005, and the sequence has been continually improved. Hundreds of genes underlying canine diseases and traits are estimated to have been discovered, compared with as few as a dozen for cats.

The discrepancy can be traced back to the early 2000s. After the completion of the human, mouse and rat genomes, the US National Institutes of Health organized a commission to decide on their next target; the dog genome was selected for high-quality sequencing, whereas cats were put on hold.

That got some cat geneticists backs up. The truth is there were more powerful people interested in dogs, says Stephen OBrien, director of the Theodosius Dobzhansky Center for Genome Bioinformatics in StPetersburg, Russia, who led the initial cat-sequencing efforts.

But canine researchers were able to make a compelling case. Pet dogs suffer from many of the same conditions as humans, from narcolepsy to arthritis. And the intensely inbred nature of dog breeds made it relatively easy to identify disease-causing genes: because there is little genetic variation within any particular breed, the genes that cause disease in affected individuals stand out.

Dogs had other advantages, too. The existence of kennel clubs, which maintain breed standards and are full of enthusiastic pet owners and veterinary surgeons, helped dog geneticists to recruit subjects for study. Given the resources they had, they were discovering new genetic diseases in breeds almost daily, says Niels Pedersen, a veterinary scientist at the University of California, Davis.

Follow this link:
Cats Claw Their Way into Genomics