IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Driscoll, C.A.; Menotti-Raymond, M.; Roca, A.L.; Hupe, K.; Johnson, W.E.; Geffen, E.; Harley, E.; Delibes, M.; Pontier, D.; Kitchener, A.C.; Yamaguchi, N.; O'Brien, S.J.; Macdonald, D. | |
| Worldwide Phylogeography of the Wildcat, _Felis silvestris_, Suggests a Near Eastern Origin of Cat Domestication | |
| 2007 Conference Proceeding | |
The domestic cat is the world's most popular pet numbering more than 600 million and is also an important medical model for genetic diseases, yet little is know with certainty of the cat's origin, early natural history or genetic background. To investigate the relationships between domestic cats and their indigenous wild congeners we typed 36 short tandem repeat loci and sequenced 2.6 kb of the mitochondrial genes ND5 and ND6 in ~1000 cats from wild and domestic settings, including representatives of registered-breed and random-bred pet cats from both feral and household environments. Additionally, six _Felis bieti_ and twelve _F. margarita_, the closest relatives of _F. silvestris_, were included as comparative outgroups. Phylogenetic and clustering analyses identified five genetically distinctive wildcat populations, present in Europe (_F.s. silvestris_) , Southern Africa (_F.s. caffra_), Central Asia (_F.s. ornata_), the Near East (_F.s. lybica_) and China (_F.s. bieti_), here subsumed under _F. silvestris_. Domestic cats carried genetic signatures that differentiated them from all wildcats, including the critically endangered Scottish wildcat, except those from the Near East. Multiple genetic analyses produced concordant results tracing the origins of cat domestication to at least five maternal wildcat lines originating in the Near East. |
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