By Mapping Cat's Genes, Mysteries of Genetic Illnesses May Unravel

Genetically speaking, every dog has already had its moment as the center of attention. In 2003 a poodle named Shadow became the first canine to have his genome mapped, and in 2004 a boxer, Tasha, became the second.

Now scientists are turning their attention to the genome of the do­mestic cat, and it is a cat named Cinnamon's turn to donate a blood sample. Cinnamon comes from a carefully bred colony at the University of Missouri, and her lineage can be traced back for de­cades. Scientists therefore know exactly what they are getting when they look at her DNA.

Researchers hope to have the cat genome mapped by the end of the year and when the job is done, humans will be the ones to benefit.

Americans own more than 60 million cats, spend over $4 bil­lion a year on cat food and are so dedicated to feline health care that their veterinarians have identified more than 250 genetic diseases and hundreds of infectious agents that afflict them. The genome will contribute to knowledge with immediate practical application, not only for veterinarians and cat owners, but for geneticists, zoologists and conservationists.

When the National Human Ge­nome Research Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health in the United States, chose the cat as one of the select group of species to have their genomes mapped, it was no small honor. It will cost $5.5 million to do the job, said a spokes­man for the health institutes.

The sequencing is carried out un­der contract with Agencourt Bioscience Corporation, a biotechnology firm in Beverly, Massachusetts, which was started five years ago by scientists originally involved in the Human Genome Project.

Chopping up the DNA into tiny usable pieces in a process called library construction, and then putting it all back together creates the map.

The cat was chosen, among oth­er reasons, for its importance as a medical model in studying human disease.

"The genes on the cat chromo­some and the human chromosome correspond to each other like two strings of beads made of differ­ent colors," said Dr. Stephen J. O'Brien, chief of the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity of the National Cancer Institute, adding that cats have "the same genes, one after another, strung together across every chromosome.''

This resemblance means that many of the cat's genetic diseases are inherited exactly the same way as genetic illnesses in hu­mans. Diabetes, hemophilia and lupus, for example, have precise genetic homologues in cats.

Cat retroviruses, like those that cause feline leukemia and feline sarcoma, although slightly differ­ent in their gene structure from the human versions, produce le­sions that look almost identical to human cancers.

Feline immunodeficiency vi­rus, or F.I.V., resembles H.I.V. so closely that it follows the same progression that, untreated, leads to the wasting syndrome of AIDS in humans.

Cats also get feline versions of many other human infectious dis­eases, including rotavirus, poxvirus, herpes, Q-fever and dozens more. They are resis­tant to anthrax infection. Once the genome is mapped, said Dr. O'Brien, "research on feline stem cells will blossom, along with gene therapy applications."

"At least from a genomic per­spective," he added, "cats share a striking ancient affinity with hu­mankind."

B. Look through the text again and translate the following parts from English into Russian:

―genetically speaking

―scientists are turning their attention to

― carefully bred

― the genome will contribute to knowledge with immediate practical application

― the cat was chosen for its importance

― the genes on the cat chromo­some and the human chromosome correspond to each other like two strings of beads made of differ­ent colors

― look almost identical to human cancers

― Once the genome is mapped, research on feline stem cells will blossom, along with gene therapy applications.