Cinnamon the cat could offer hope to the blind

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Four year old Abyssinian cat called Cinnamon is about to take her place in the scientific history books.

A rough draft of her genome - the entire set of DNA that holds more than 20,000 genetic instructions (genes) for assembling a cat, directing it to grow and mature, and maintaining it through its nine lives - is published today in the journal Genome Research.

Four years ago, a standard poodle named Shadow became the first canine to have his genome mapped. Now it is Cinnamon's turn to become famous, thanks to a £3 million project that will benefit both owners and pets.

When all the details of her genome are revealed in full, scheduled for next year, the shy redhead, owned by Prof Kristina Narfstrom, a University of Missouri-Columbia veterinarian, will represent her entire species (Felis catus) as the genetic model of all the moggies in the world.

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Thanks to this project, Cinnamon has finally pinned down the faulty gene that is responsible for the blindness, which Prof Narfstrom is attempting to treat by implanting chips into the eye.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/10/31/scicat131.xml

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1. Cinnamon lives in a cat colony at the University of Missouri-Columbia.............

"One thing I'd like to discover is the genes for good behaviour in the cats"
Dr Stephen O'Brien
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7073194.stm

[applegrove]

2. And now all sorts of cats can live in "cat colonies" associated with

universities. I'm not sure this is good news for the cats used in science. Though they may be able to fix some feline diseases and some human ones.... it isn't good news for all cats.