99 cats project

Hi all,

I am a new member. I was always very interested in feline genetics and I know Professor Lyons contributed so much to this field.

Professor Lyons, I have heard about your new project and it sounds very interesting. Could you shortly describe us how it's going to be done? And how long it will take to complete?

In which way cats and humans will benefit from this study? 

http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Scientists-set-out-to-map-whole-genome-of-cats-5198784.php

What about 12 cat races? What are they? I have never heard about this and would love to know more.

As the owner of a Japanese kitty, I am also interested in the 12 cat races....

Howdy ho Cat Lovers,

Yes - the 99 Lives Cat Genome Sequencing Project is out to sequence over 99 cats for the public, including cat, good.  For us to figure out what all the bad, health damaging mutations are in our cats, then we need to first figure out what is normal, good or just background genetic mutations.  It is good to have mutations you know - keeps us diverse, including diverse and robust immune systems.  So, the dogs and horses are ahead of us, they have sequenced hundreds of animals, humans have been sequenced to the hundreds of thousands.  Cats need to catch up to keep our standard of health care as good as other species.  We have mentioned tail traits, fur triats, color traits, disease resistance traits and also traits that control nutrition.  Did you know a lot of cats get diabetes and are obese - poor diets kitty cat!  Some of this is environment but some is genetics too!  My mother cat is black and fat - always has been, her kitten is perfect!  Both have the same access to food, can go out doors when they want, get lots of wet food and dry too.  So, why is one fat??  Genetics has something to do with it too.  The 99 Lives project will help figure this out.

Any cat, any breed is welcome.  We started with about 16 breeds to ask for DNA samples on.  These were the most come breeds around the world.  So, we started with Persian, Abyssinian, Birman, Burmese, American Shorthair, Egyptian Mau, Japanese Bobtail, Korat, Maine Coon, Norwegian Forest cat, Bengal, Siamese, Russian Blue, Siberian, Turkish Van, Turkish Angora and Sokoke.  We are still looking for a pedigreed Turkish Van!!  Others are very welcome and more cats of the same breeds too!  We only had so much money to start with!  Please help us to raise money and find some cool cats to sequence!  Very important are random bred, street, barn and house cats from around the world!   Who can provide a street cat from the most exotic place??

I can provide samples from Israeli cats! Provided you only want the samples and not the cats themselves 

I'd LOVE to know more about the genetic makeup of the local population. I think they're different from North American cats and from European cats.

Let me know if you want samples from any curled, kinked or bob tailed Japanese feral cats. I've got nearly 30 that I am caring for and there are a lot of variations of tail to be seen.

I'd LOVE to know more about the genetic makeup of the local population. I think they're different from North American cats and from European cats. 

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If you need any samples from İceland, I would be willing to help! I wonder if Iceland cats belong to any of 12 races?  As well Israeli, Japanese and other cats around the world?

I would love to be involved as well. I doubt my cat is anything particularly special. lol But here in NW Ontario, you never know!

If my dear Angelina was still with us, I would gladly share samples.  Not only was she a tortoiseshell, but we also think she was a 'mis-matched' American Curl.  At least she had some kind of  mutation going on with her ears.

l have a Scottish Fold with the obvious mutation. He is the result of a BSH dam imported from Russia and a Canadian-born SF sire, descended from Russian imports. l guess that's a little convoluted 

Howdy ho Cat Lovers,

There are different ways to contribute to the 99 Lives cat project.  To sequence a cat, we need 6 mls of EDTA blood or if gonads (testis /ovaries) - which ever it has to spare!  Plus, that $8,000!

But also, we can examine the genetics of populations in the future too - a bit of a side project.  So, if you want to rally a group of samples from your local population ( 20 - 30), then we can include them in a future population study!  We are actually working with vets from Iceland, but need Israel, Japan,...  This is very easily done - go find a spay / neuter clinic and we ask for the left over parts and put them in 70% until we have 20 - 30.  Then, I can help arrange shipping.  Nice little project for cat lovers interested in genetics.  Really need to find cats in RUSSIA!!

Genetic research is so important, I thought there had to be plenty of funds for the research itself? I'm sure eventually these studies further the understanding of human genetics as well?

I'll check with my vet about collecting some cat parts   I have no idea how one ships something like this either. Do you write "cat private parts" on the shipping form?