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Young World

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Cute Cinnamon

SUBAJAYANTHI. B

A pedigree cat called Cinnamon has made scientific history by becoming the first feline to have its DNA decoded. The domestic cat now joins the select club of mammals, including dogs, chimps, rats, mice, cows and people, whose genome has been deciphered. The genome map is expected to shed light on both feline and human disease. Cats get hundreds of illnesses similar to human ones, including a feline version of HIV, known as FIV, and a hereditary form of blindness. Cinnamon , a four-year-old Abyssinian cat, has Retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease, also found in humans, which can lead to blindness. Scientists found the gene change, or mutation, that causes the condition in cats.

“One thing I’d like to discover is the genes for good behaviour in cats — the genes for domestication, the things that make them not want to kill our children but play with them,” he added.

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Young World

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