Biology Faculty Articles

Title

Patterns of Molecular Genetic Variation Among Cat Breeds

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-2008

Publication Title

Genomics

Keywords

Domestic cat, Cat breeds, STRUCTURE algorithm, STRs, SNPs, Population subdivision

ISSN

0888-7543

Volume

91

Issue/No.

1

First Page

1

Last Page

11

Abstract

Genetic variation in cat breeds was assessed utilizing a panel of short tandem repeat (STR) loci genotyped in 38 cat breeds and 284 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) genotyped in 24 breeds. Population structure in cat breeds generally reflects their recent ancestry and absence of strong breed barriers between some breeds. There is a wide range in the robustness of population definition, from breeds demonstrating high definition to breeds with as little as a third of their genetic variation partitioning into a single population. Utilizing the STRUCTURE algorithm, there was no clear demarcation of the number of population subdivisions; 16 breeds could not be resolved into independent populations, the consequence of outcrossing in established breeds to recently developed breeds with common ancestry. These 16 breeds were divided into 6 populations. Ninety-six percent of cats in a sample set of 1040 were correctly assigned to their classified breed or breed group/population. Average breed STR heterozygosities ranged from moderate (0.53; Havana, Korat) to high (0.85; Norwegian Forest Cat, Manx). Most of the variation in cat breeds was observed within a breed population (83.7%), versus 16.3% of the variation observed between populations. The hierarchical relationships of cat breeds is poorly defined as demonstrated by phylogenetic trees generated from both STR and SNP data, though phylogeographic grouping of breeds derived completely or in part from Southeast Asian ancestors was apparent.

Comments

©2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Additional Comments

National Institute of Justice grant #: 1999-IJ-R-A079

ORCID ID

0000-0001-7353-8301

ResearcherID

N-1726-2015

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