Genes, Vol. 12, Pages 1619: More Than a Moggy; A Population Genetics Analysis of the United Kingdom ’s Non-Pedigree Cats

Genes, Vol. 12, Pages 1619: More Than a Moggy; A Population Genetics Analysis of the United Kingdom’s Non-Pedigree Cats Genes doi: 10.3390/genes12101619 Authors: Jennifer Irving McGrath Wengang Zhang Regina Hollar Alison Collings Roger Powell Rob D. Foale Nicola Thurley Jeffrey A. Brockman Richard J. Mellanby Danièlle A. Gunn-Moore Jeffrey J. Schoenebeck The domestic cat is one of the most popular pets in the world. It is estimated that 89–92% of domestic cats in the UK are non-pedigree Domestic shorthair (DSH), Domestic longhair (DLH), or Domestic semi-longhair cats (DSLH). Despite their popularity, little is known of the UK non-pedigree cats’ population structure and breeding dynamics. Using a custom designed single nucleotide variant (SNV) array, this study investigated the population genetics of 1344 UK cats. Principal components analysis (PCA) and fastSTRUCTURE analysis verified that the UK’s DSH, DLH, and DSLH cats are random-bred, rather than admixed, mix breed, or crossbred. In contrast to pedigree cats, the linkage disequilibrium of these random-bred cats was least extensive and decayed rapidly. Homozygosity by descent (HBD) analysis showed the majority of non-pedigree cats had proportionally less of their genome in HBD segments compared to pedigree cats, and that these segments were older. Together, these findings suggest that the DSH, DLH, and DSLH cats should be considered as a population of random-bred cats rather than a cross...
Source: Genes - Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Tags: Article Source Type: research
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