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Presentation
Knowledge of the structure of the domestic cat genome is constantly developing.
Several laboratories in the world (including the University of California and the National Cancer Institute of the United States) have long been engaged in the completion of the feline genetic map, essential for the identification of genes responsible for genetically transmissible diseases, of phenotypic characters (such as the coat) and of the origin of races or lines.
For this reason, useful applications in the breeding field will be available with increasing frequency in the future.
Currently, thanks to the development of the map, many DNA “genetic markers” are known, mainly microsatellites. These are specific, known and easily analyzed DNA points that already find application in addition to the analysis of genetic variability, consanguinity and the study of causative genes of diseases or phenotypes of interest above all for the identification of the single subject (a sort of genetic identity card) and for the control of parental relationships. For the comparability of this type of certification, a comparison test is carried out every 2 years in which the certifying laboratories participate (in 2006 there were 11 laboratories from Europe, Asia and America, adhering to the International Comparison test).
Among the known feline hereditary diseases, genetic tests are now available for breeders for Polycistic Kidney Disease (PKD), prevalent in the Persian breed, and Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) of the Main Coon, and of the Ragdoll.
Finally, the possibility of conservation in the laboratory and reanalysis of the genetic material for many years can provide a useful tool for genetic traceability of the subjects and a database / biological bank of the breeding and of the breed.
Feline breeding can find in the knowledge and techniques that are consolidating in the molecular field a valid support for its development and the enhancement of its selected reproducers.
>> The genetic test for the typing of the blood group and the identification of the carriers of the B allele is available
For information: Prof.ssa Maria Longeri: maria.longeri@unimi.it