TUESDAY, Feb. 18, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Cat lovers have long known that the distinctive three-toned calico patterning is almost exclusively found in female felines. <\/p>\n
Now, the genetics behind that anomaly may help scientists understand human DNA a little better, too. <\/p>\n
That's because calico cats may help explain so-called gene silencing -- flipping the \"off switch\" on genes, researchers say. <\/p>\n
A team at the University of California, San Francisco say the unique orange-white-and-black patchwork fur on these cats is due to the silencing or inactivation of one of their two X chromosomes. <\/p>\n
As the researchers explained, cells in female mammals have two copies of the X chromosome -- one from the mother and one from the father. Cells require only one active X chromosome, so the second one is turned off. <\/p>\n
Calico cats have an orange-fur-color gene on one of their X chromosomes and a black-fur gene on the other. According to the UCSF team, the random silencing of one of the X chromosomes in each cell results in the calico cats' unique patchwork coat. <\/p>\n
Scientists don't know exactly how a cell turns off a chromosome, so the researchers are trying to learn more about how different kinds of genes can be switched on or off without affecting the underlying DNA sequence. <\/p>\n
This knowledge could lead to improved understanding, diagnosis and treatment of X-chromosome-related diseases in humans, said the researchers, who are scheduled to present their findings Tuesday at the Biophysical Society's annual meeting in San Francisco. <\/p>\n
\"Uncovering how only one X chromosome is inactivated will help explain the whole process of 'epigenetic control,' meaning the way changes in gene activity can be inherited without changing the DNA code,\" Elizabeth Smith, a postdoctoral fellow in the anatomy department at UCSF, said in an American Institute of Physics news release. <\/p>\n
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Calico cats may help scientists understand human genetics<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" TUESDAY, Feb. 18, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Cat lovers have long known that the distinctive three-toned calico patterning is almost exclusively found in female felines. Now, the genetics behind that anomaly may help scientists understand human DNA a little better, too. Continue reading