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Modern domestic cats trace ancestry to the Middle East

"It's serious research, because cats are a model for some human genetic diseases, such as polycystic kidney disease and retinal atrophy."

Carlos Driscoll, cat researcher

Today's domestic cats can be traced to wild progenitors that interbred well over 100,000 years ago, new research indicates.

"House cats -- which includes fancy breeds and feral cats -- those cats all form a genetic group that is virtually indistinguishable from ones in the Middle East," said Stephen O'Brien of the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

"So, domestication, for sure, took place in the Middle East where those cats live today," added O'Brien, co-author of a paper appearing in this week's online edition of the journal Science.

Carlos Driscoll, of Oxford University and NCI, and an international team of researchers studied the origins of cats.

"It's serious research, because cats are a model for some human genetic diseases, such as polycystic kidney disease and retinal atrophy," Driscoll explained in a telephone interview.

In addition, the work is expected to assist in conservation efforts for wild cats, he said.

The ancestry of cats was traced to five types of wild cats, Driscoll said. Rather than being domesticated five times, these five types managed to interbreed at various times, with the result being Felis silvestris lybica, which appears to be the ancestor of modern house cats.

Cats may have been domesticated once or many times, he said, adding that the most likely case is they were domesticated once and other wild cats bred with the domesticated ones.

"I wasn't there, but all the data supports that," he said.

The researchers found the other Felis silvestris subspecies long associated with cat origins.

"Since the DNA samples were taken from cats in remote desert areas there would be less likelihood of hybridization occurring," he said. "I would like to know more about these cats."
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