Tag: dna

New large cat study: 11 036 cats

«Genetic epidemiology of blood type, disease and trait variants, and genome-wide genetic diversity in over 11,000 domestic cats» Anderson et al 2022 Heidi Anderson at WisdomPanel/MyCatDNA and her colleagues have just published the largest cat study to date on cats genetics. 11036 cats, 90 breeds/types, a total of 10419 pedigree cats, 617 cats housecats/non-pedigree were analyzed. Here are some short impressions with excerpts from the paper, which can be found in full-text here. Samples came from MyCatDNA and Optimal Selection Feline tests done between 2016 and 2021 (Wisdom Panel of Helsinki, Finland and Vancouver, WA, USA. The tested cats were from: USA (54.9%) Finland (17.4%) Canada (5.3%) United Kingdom (3.5%) Norway (3.5%) Sweden (3.3%) Russia (2.5%) France (1%) «The maximum number of different disease-associated variants present in a single breed was 9; this was observed in the Maine Coon, which was the breed that was represented by the most individuals (N = 1971) tested in this dataset.» (p 9) The cat fancy can learn a lot from the results. For instance it is clear that broad panel tests help breeders make good choices for combinations, without losing genetic variation in the breed. «For more than a decade, it has been common practice to eradicate disease-associated variants from pedigreed cat breeding populations using DNA testing. However, the focus on eradicating single DNA variants from a breed could contribute to severe loss of genetic diversity, especially if implemented strictly instead of thoughtfully.» (p 3) «Our data indicate that known disease-associated variant frequencies are now lower for many conditions (GM2 and Hypokalemia in Burmese, Glycogen Storage Disease in Norwegian Forest Cats, HCM and Spinal Muscular Atrophy in Maine Coon, HCM in Ragdoll and PKD in Persian) compared to the frequencies at the time of their discovery, perhaps reflecting change over time within the…

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Longhair genes – langhårsgener

The natural coat for the domestic cat is shorthair. However many cat breeds have developed longhair coats. There are 4 different types of mutations in the FGF5 gene, that give longhair cats: Type Mutation Found in Breeds M4 A475C All longhair and semilonghair M3 474delT Maine Coon, Ragdoll M2 C406T Norwegian Forest cat M1 ins356T Ragdoll Maine Coons are known to have two of these longhair genes in their population: M3 and M4. It is unknown if the other types also exist in Maine Coon. There is also a 5th longhair mutation in Maine Coon, still not discovered. The Maine Coon standard (the original) says: The fur on the front shoulders is short and should become gradually longer along the back towards the tail, ending in a shaggy, heavy coat on the “britches”. The sides of the cat’s coat should gradually get longer until the stomach is reached, where it should be long and full. A full ruff is not expected, however, there should be a slight frontal ruff beginning at the base of the ears. The fur on the tail should be long and full. Feet should be tufted. Coat should be fine, heavy, lustrous, and should fall smoothly. A slight undercoat may be carried. This is the optimum coat and will vary with climate. As many have observed, Maine Coons have quite a bit of variation in coat length and texture. Since a cat inherits one copy of the gene from each parent, the possible longhair combinations for MCO are: M3/M3 M3/M4 M4/M4 It is uncertain how much these differences actually influence each individual cat’s coat type. We do know that within the Maine Coon breed, the variation in coat length and structure is quite large.  Actual coat types are obviously also decided by many other genes. Some also…

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