Researchers say cats get more than 200 diseases that resemble human illnesses. They hope the research in cats will help cure human illnesses. An Abyssinian cat from Missouri, named Cinnamon has just given scientists hope and made scientific history.
The list of diseases that resemble that of human illnesses includes a cat version of AIDS, SARS, diabetes, retinal disease and spina bifida, said Stephen J. O’Brien of the National Cancer Institute.
This new work is reported in the November issue of the journal Genome Research by a team including O’Brien and colleague Joan Pontius. O’Brien informed that it covers about two-thirds of the DNA of Cinnamon — the research cat that lives at the University of Missouri in Columbia — and more complete results are expected next year.
Before DNA, taxonomists had considerable difficulty in classifying the cat family. The fossil record was sparse and many of the skulls lacked distinctiveness. One scheme divided the family into Big Cats and Little Cats. Then, in 1997, Dr. Johnson and Dr. O’Brien said they thought most living cats fell into one of eight lineages, based on the genetic element known as mitochondrial DNA.
Having made further DNA analyzes, the researchers have drawn a full family tree that assigns every cat species to one of the lineages. They have also integrated their tree, which is based solely on changes in DNA, with the fossil record. The fossils, which are securely dated, allow dates to be assigned to each fork in the genetic family tree.
Via: theglobeandmail
