Unrated importance of cats

Leslie Lions A veterinarian and expert in cat genetics. She is also known for making fun of her cat owner, general cat sect, and colleague studying dog genetics with the old adage “cat dominates.” .. The dog drools. “

Due to the fact that the number of dog breeds provides diversity in terms of genetic disease, and perhaps due to the general prejudice in favor of dogs, research funding and attention to the genetics of cat and dog disease It didn’t apply. But Lions, a professor at the University of Missouri, says there are many reasons why cats and their illnesses are an irreplaceable model of human illness. She covered the causes of cat science in a Trends in Genetics article this week.

“People tend to either love or hate them, and cats are often underestimated by the scientific community,” she writes. However, in a sense, the composition of the cat’s genome is very similar to that of the human genome, and cat genomics does not constitute genes and can help understand vast amounts of poorly understood mammalian DNA. She says.

Remdesivir, an important drug in the fight against Covid-19, was first successfully used for a cat disease caused by another coronavirus.

In the veterinary advances that have benefited humans, she was the first to successfully treat remdesivir, an important drug in the fight against Covid-19, against a cat disease caused by another coronavirus. Point out that it was used.

She is the director of the 99 Lives Cat Genome Sequencing Initiative and as part of that project, as part of her and that project. Weswarren With the University of Missouri William Murphy and Texas A & M University recently created the most detailed cat genome to date, beyond the dog genome.

“For now,” says Lions.

Last week I talked to Lions, Warren, and Murphy, who call themselves team cats. Lions were visiting Texas. She talked with two of her colleagues about why the cat’s genome is important for medical knowledge.

I report on animal science, and over the years, I admitted to team cat members, I seem to have written more about dogs than cats. Dog-cat rivalry in genomics is usually a friendly rivalry, but first a scientist’s unscientific approach to cats and dogs to assess what I’m crazy about. Asked about.

The conversation was edited for length and clarity.

First, their personal taste:

William Murphy I have cats and dogs as pets, but I like cats.

Weswarren I am a dog owner. Unfortunately I am allergic to cats.

Leslie Lions He has a very expensive dog and continues to have problems.

Why did you decide to write an article promoting the cause of cat science?

Lions Throughout my career, I have sought to make people aware that our everyday pets have the same illnesses as us.

Do you have a high quality genome for several cats other than domestic cats?

Lions We already have half a dozen species of lions and tigers, Asian leopard cats, Geoffroy’s cats, and at this point a really really good genome that is even better than the dog’s genome.

Murphy Much more. Until very recently, it was actually of higher quality than the human reference genome. The goal is to create a complete encyclopedia of cat DNA. This gives us a really complete understanding of the genetic basis of all traits in cats.

Lions For example, an allergic gene that causes Wess to be allergic. We now fully understand the gene. You can knock it out of a cat to make a more hypoallergenic cat, or at least understand what provokes an immune response better.

How is cat illness a good model of human illness?

Lions We are discovering that different species have different health problems. We should really choose the right seed.

Warren We know that dogs, like us, get cancer more often. Cats rarely get cancer. And that’s a fascinating story of evolution. The cat’s genome has signals and clues to more accurately identify why cats get certain types of cancer and to understand the difference between dogs, cats, and humans.

What about the cats you are studying?

Lions genome research is great because all you need is a blood sample. Therefore, once you have a blood sample, you do not need to experiment with animals. We are actually observing what the animals already have. We are working on an illness that is already there.

How about wild species?

The high quality genome of Murphy wildcats helps with survival planning and wild recovery of wildcat species.

Lions Wild cats have half a dozen health problems. There are studies of transitional cell carcinoma in fishing cats, hereditary blindness in black-footed cats, and polycystic kidney disease in Pallas’s cats. Snow leopards have terrible eye problems, probably due to inbreeding at the zoo. Therefore, understanding their genome helps to thwart these problems in zoo populations, which also helps humans in the same state.

What about ancient DNA and cats? Much research has been done on it in dogs. How is it going on with cats?

Lions Several groups are moving forward with ancient DNA. I worked on some mummified cats and showed that the mitochondrial DNA types found in mummified cats are more abundant in today’s Egyptian cats than anywhere else. So the Pharaoh’s cat is now an Egyptian cat.

To switch gears: I’ve always been a dog, but I was thinking of having a cat. Any tips?

Lions get two. They will be friends. And hurt them something. If not, it will be your sofa. –New York Times