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Published Online June 28, 2007
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1139518

Reports

Submitted on January 4, 2007
Accepted on June 18, 2007

The Near Eastern Origin of Cat Domestication

Carlos A. Driscoll 1*, Marilyn Menotti-Raymond 2, Alfred L. Roca 3, Karsten Hupe 4, Warren E. Johnson 2, Eli Geffen 5, Eric Harley 6, Miguel Delibes 7, Dominique Pontier 8, Andrew C. Kitchener 9, Nobuyuki Yamaguchi 10, Stephen J. O'Brien 2*, David Macdonald 10*

1 Laboratory of Genomic Diversity, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD 21702, USA; Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK.
2 Laboratory of Genomic Diversity, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD 21702, USA.
3 Laboratory of Genomic Diversity, SAIC-Frederick Inc., NCI-Frederick, Frederick, MD 21702, USA.
4 Jagd Einrichtungs Büro, Am Sahlbach 9a, 37170 Fürstenhagen, Germany.
5 Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel.
6 Division of Chemical Pathology, University of Cape Town, Observatory 7925, Cape Town, South Africa.
7 Department of Applied Biology, Estación Biológica de Doñana, CSIC, Avda Maria Luisa s/n Pabellón del Perú, 41013 Sevilla, Spain.
8 UMR-CNRS 5558 Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive, Université Claude Bernard Lyon I, 43 boulevard du 11 novembre 1918, 69622 Villeurbanne, France.
9 Department of Geology and Zoology, National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh EH1 1JF, Scotland, UK.
10 Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Carlos A. Driscoll , E-mail: driscoll{at}ncifcrf.gov
Stephen J. O'Brien , E-mail: obrien{at}ncifcrf.gov
David Macdonald , E-mail: david.macdonald{at}zoology.oxford.ac.uk

The world's domestic cats carry patterns of sequence variation in their genome that reflect a history of domestication and breed development. A genetic assessment of 979 domestic cats and their wild progenitors (Felis silvestris silvestris - European wildcat; F. s. lybica - Near Eastern wildcat; F. s. ornata - Central Asian wildcat; F. s. cafra - sub Saharan African wildcat; and F. s. bieti - Chinese desert cat) indicated that each wild group represents a distinctive subspecies of Felis silvestris. Further analysis revealed that cats were domesticated in the Near East, likely coincident with agricultural village development in the Fertile Crescent. Domestic cats derive from at least five founders from across this region, whose descendents were subsequently transported across the world by human assistance.


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