Murphy W J
Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Tex., USA.
Genome Dyn. 2006;2:60-68. doi: 10.1159/000095093.
The domestic cat has a long history of informing human biology, from early studies of comparative anatomy to the present genetic characterization of many feline genetic disease models. Nearly half of these diseases have homologous counterparts in human. Difficulties studying these defects in humans provide model organisms, like the domestic cat, with a unique opportunity to further inform human hereditary and infectious disease. Here I review the progress in the development of genomic mapping resources, the recent acquisition of a feline 2x genome sequence, and how these tools now equip feline geneticists to identify and characterize genes in cats causing comparable diseases or phenotypes in other species. The availability of such a mapping resource will enable positional cloning approaches and stimulate further development and use of the domestic cat as a model for human disease, while also enhancing the health of the species itself. The cat gene map also provides a useful tool in multispecies comparative genomic analyses to better understand the causes and consequences of chromosome breakage and evolution.
家猫在为人类生物学提供信息方面有着悠久的历史，从早期的比较解剖学研究到目前对许多猫科动物遗传疾病模型的基因特征分析。这些疾病中近一半在人类中有同源对应物。在人类中研究这些缺陷存在困难，这为像家猫这样的模式生物提供了一个独特的机会，以进一步了解人类遗传性和传染性疾病。在此，我回顾了基因组图谱资源开发方面的进展、最近获得的猫科动物二倍体基因组序列，以及这些工具如何使猫科动物遗传学家能够识别和表征猫体内导致其他物种出现类似疾病或表型的基因。这样一个图谱资源的可用性将使定位克隆方法成为可能，并刺激将家猫进一步开发和用作人类疾病模型，同时也能改善该物种自身的健康状况。猫基因图谱在多物种比较基因组分析中也是一个有用的工具，有助于更好地理解染色体断裂和进化的原因及后果。
