Man's new best friend: What cats can teach us about human genetics and precision medicine

Date:
July 28, 2021
Source:
Cell Press
Summary:
Although cats have lived alongside humans for millennia, it remains
a dogs' world. This bias has historically bled into science as
well. It's time for cats to get their day, argues veterinary
medicine experts. Cats, they say, have the potential to be a
valuable model organism for geneticists, as the feline genome is
ordered similarly to humans.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Although cats have lived alongside humans for millennia, it remains a
dogs' world. This bias has historically bled into science as well. It's
time for cats to get their day, argues veterinary medicine expert
Leslie Lyons in a Forum published July 28 in the journal Trends in
Genetics. Cats, she says, have the potential to be a valuable model
organism for geneticists, as the feline genome is ordered similarly
to humans.


========================================================================== "Using cats in research is really overlooked, since people don't realize
the advantages," says Lyons, of the Department of Veterinary Medicine &
Surgery at the University of Missouri. "The dog or mouse genome have
rearranged chromosomes that are quite different than humans, but the
domestic cat has genes that are about the same size as humans, as
well as a genome that, like humans, is very organized and conserved."
Lyons writes that cats could be an asset for helping researchers better understand our genetic "dark matter." Although making up 95% of our
DNA, it has long been considered filler information of little to no consequences, yet approximately 10% of the noncoding regions within the
dark matter of the genome are conserved across mammals, suggesting that
it has an important, misunderstood role. Cats have been found to have
genetic diseases related to dysfunction of their genetic dark matter,
making them a potential model organism for this type of research.

"As we discover that perhaps animals have more similar spacing between
genes and the genes are in the same order, maybe that will help us to
decipher what's going on with humans," Lyons says. "Working with a primate
is on the expensive side, but a cat's affordability and docile nature
make them one of the most feasible animals to work with to understand
the human genome." Another reason why cats could enlighten the human
genome is that we have the technology to clone cats and make transgenic
cats. The first cat clone, Cc, short for CopyCat, was generated in
2001. Her cell donor was a typical calico cat with black, orange,
and white fur, but Cc didn't turn out to have any orange on her coat,
defying Mendel's laws and other basic genetic principles.

This was a clue that something was happening in Cc's genes that
researchers are just now beginning to understand.

Cats could also play a role in precision medicine for genetic diseases,
in which instead of treating the symptoms, researchers fix the actual
gene and what the gene does. For example, certain breeds of cats are
prone to the genetic illness polycystic kidney disease, which also
afflicts humans. Lyons writes that if we could treat this disease with precision medicine in cats, we could apply those learnings to us.

"So, if you and your cat walk in the vet's door and there is not a trauma, there is not a feeding problem, there might be a genetic problem with
the cat.

Vets could sequence the genes and potentially more quickly find
the cause of what's going on and then develop a treatment that
is more appropriate than just treating the symptoms," Lyons
says. "We can provide a more tailored healthcare program for our
pets, and more funding would put all the different pieces into place." ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Cell_Press. Note: Content may be
edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Leslie A. Lyons. Cats - telomere to telomere and nose to
tail. Trends in
Genetics, 2021; DOI: 10.1016/j.tig.2021.06.001 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/07/210728111322.htm

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