99 Lives Cat Genome Sequencing Initiative

– a public effort to discover cat genetic variation and to improve feline & human health!

99 Lives Mizzou Giving from MU CVM Web Communications on Vimeo.

A highly improved genome assembly for Cinnamon the Abyssinian was released in late 2017.

Felis_Catus_9.0

The cost for cat whole genome sequencing has drastically reduced due to a technology change and more competition. Click here for more information on the technology change!

Thanks to your funding support – the 99 Lives Project has had some major successes!

The 99 Lives Cat Genome Sequencing Initiative continues to expand in participants and cat genomes! Approximately 40 different research institutions, zoological parks, pet food companies and animal health companies are contributing to the 99 Lives Project. We have genomes from over 200 domestic cats now – twice the original 99 Lives goal! Many wild felid genomes are included as well. We think we have been successful with over 20 different genetic projects! Click here for success stories!

How can I help?

Nominate a cat to be included in the 99 Lives Project. Cats can be healthy, have an interesting trait (ear curl, tail kinks), a new coloration (karpati) or have a health issue that would be a high value to investigate, which could lead to health improvements for other cats. All cats help us understand cat diversity too!

Donate funds to 99 Lives – for your cat – sponsor a cat breed – raise funds for a breed or specific cat

Find cats that will help the current research projects!

Share the news – help us do feline research and eradicate genetic diseases from cats!

Remember – every cat in the project helps other investigations – sick cats for one project work as controls for another!

We have two goals in 2019 for the 99 Lives Project – your support is needed!

The first goal is to raise ~$2,000 – $5,000 per project to validate, confirm and publish (Open Access) the DNA variants we have identified that may cause inherited diseases in different breeds. We think we have been successful with the 99 Lives Project – now we need to prove it! Testing and proving DNA variants is now more labor and reagent intensive than genome sequencing – thus validation costs more money! We have 10 active projects and would like to raise ~$50,000.

Breed Disease Breed Disease Burmese Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Siberian HCM Ragdoll Uterine / Renal Aplasia Many breeds Silver Korats Dilated Pupils LaPerm Hair curl Egyptian Mau Urate stones ToyBob Tail Minuets Dwarfism Oriental cross hydrocephalus

New projects are always welcome and under development!

The second goal for the 99 Lives Project in 2019 is to have at least one cat from every cat breed and each wild felid species represented in the 99 Lives Project. The cost of genome sequencing has continued to drop! To produce the same quality data (30x genome coverage) as the beginning of the 99 Lives Project, the sequencing and analyses costs are now only $1500 per cat. For the 24 cat breeds not represented – we need ~$36,000 USD and ~$11,000 for the wild felid species.

Cat Breeds and wild felids in the 99 Lives Project

Breed / felid Species No. Breeds Needed 1 Abyssinian Felis silvestris catus 4 American Bobtail 2 American Shorthair Felis silvestris catus 1 American Curl 3 American Wirehair Felis silvestris catus 1 Balinese 4 Australian Mist Felis silvestris catus 1 Bombay 5 Bengal Felis silvestris catus 5 Burmilla 6 Birman Felis silvestris catus 9 Chartreux 7 British Shorthair Felis silvestris catus 2 Chausie 8 Burmese Felis silvestris catus 13 Colorpoint 9 Devon Rex Felis silvestris catus 5 Cornish Rex 10 Don Sphynx Felis silvestris catus 1 Exotic Shorthair 11 Egyptian Mau Felis silvestris catus 3 Havana Brown 12 Himalayan Felis silvestris catus 1 Khaomanee 13 Japanese Bobtail Felis silvestris catus 1 Kurlilian Bobtail 14 Korat Felis silvestris catus 2 Manx 15 LaPerm Felis silvestris catus 1 Nebelung 16 Lykoi Felis silvestris catus 1 Norwegian Forest Cat 17 Maine Coon Felis silvestris catus 11 Pixiebob 18 Napoleon Felis silvestris catus 3 Ragamuffin 19 Ocicat Felis silvestris catus 1 Russian Blue 20 Oriental Felis silvestris catus 7 Scottish Fold 21 Persian Felis silvestris catus 3 Singapura 22 Peterbald Felis silvestris catus 1 Somali 23 Ragdoll Felis silvestris catus 4 Thai 24 Savannah Felis silvestris catus 1 Turkish Van 25 Selkirk Rex Felis silvestris catus 1 26 Siamese Felis silvestris catus 7 27 Siberian Felis silvestris catus 2 28 Sphynx Felis silvestris catus 3 29 Tennessee Rex Felis silvestris catus 1 30 Tonkinese Felis silvestris catus 1 31 Toybob Felis silvestris catus 2 32 Toyger Felis silvestris catus 1 33 Turkish Angora Felis silvestris catus 1 Cross (mixed) breed Felis silvestris catus 36 Random bred (Moggies) Felis silvestris catus 55

Wild Felids 1 Lynx – Eurasia Lynx lynx 2 Lynx – Iberian Lynx pardinus 3 Lynx – Canadian Lynx canadenesis 4 Lion Panthera leo 5 Black footed cat Felis nigripes 6 Pallas Cat Otocolobus manul 7 Fishing Cat Prionailurus viverrinus 8 Jaguar Panthera onca 9 Jungle Cat Felis chaus 10 Asian Leopard Cat Prionailurus bengalensis Euptilura 11 Asian Leopard Cat Prionailurus bengalensis 12 Puma Puma concolor 13 Tiger Panthera tigris 14 Sand Cat Felis margarita 15 16

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Incentives for the 99 Lives Cat Initiative

Incentives will be mailed on a monthly basis to USA addresses only.

Oskar and Klaus have generously decided to donate $5 for each book sold during this campaign. To purchase a copy of their book Oskar and Klaus: The Search for Bigfoot, please click here.

For your donation to the 99 Lives Cat Initiative of:

$10-$25: 99Lives button and wrist band

Fun buttons and wrist bands to display your support for the 99 Lives Cat Genome Sequencing Initiative

$50: Maverix Biomics “Bring Your Data to Life” cat T-shirt

Maverix Biomics (http://www.maverixbio.com/) supports the project by performing the data analysis. This cool t-shirt is provided to donors and only the scientists involved with the 99 Lives Cat Genome Project!

$100: Cat Switchplate – SwitchPlates by Lisa – www.facebook.com/switchplatesbylisa

Get a personalized switchplate with an image of your favorite cat or one from Lisa’s collection. You will need to contact Lisa to get your switchplate ordered (www.facebook.com/switchplatesbylisa)

$150: Your Ideal Cat: Insights into Breed and Gender Differences in Cat Behavior by Benjamin L. Hart, DVM, PhD and Lynette A. Hart, PhD. 2013 Purdue University Press

The Drs. Hart are the premiere animal behaviorists from the University of California – Davis. Their studies on cat breeds, which included work with the Lyons laboratory, are summarized in the 147 page volume on cat breeds. The first 10 donations will get a personalized, autographed copy!

$200: 99Lives cotton polo

Proudly wear your 99Lives polo showing your support for the 99 Lives Cat Genome Sequencing Initiative!

$300: Science of Cats – National Geographic

See the Lyons laboratory in action as they travel to Egypt with National Geographic to trace the true origins of the domestic cats!

$500: Introduction to Veterinary Genetics by Frank W. Nicholas, PhD. 2010 3rd ed., Wiley-Blackwell

Need to learn some genetics? Get the book that has been used by Dr. Lyons and other veterinary schools to teach genetics to veterinarians and the wise cat breeder! The first 10 donations will get a personalized, autographed copy!

$1000: The Cat: Clinical Medicine and Management, edited by Susan E. Little, DVM 2012 Saunders, Elsevier.

Need some more advanced cat medicine knowledge? This 1398 page volume is a collection of chapters from specialists in the field of feline medicine and is one of the definitive books in veterinary medicine. Every cat specialist should have one! The first 10 donations will get a personalized, autographed copy!

$7000: DNA sequencing of a cat you select!

Let’s find the variants in your favorite cat. Healthy or not, your cat will greatly help our project. We will report back to you all the disease and trait variants known in the cat. This will include coat colors, fur types and your cat’s ancestry.

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The 99 Lives challenge – make it a competition and submit your cat!!

– We challenge USA veterinary schools plus veterinary & agricultural schools worldwide to sponsor one cat!

– We challenge cat registries worldwide to sponsor their top male & female cats of the year!

– We challenge cat breeders to sponsor one male & female cat of every breed!

– We challenge pet food companies to sponsor their cats used in advertisements!

– We challenge the public to sponsor their cat and support the health of all felines!

Which cats will be participating?



Absolutely any cat can participate in this project – we just need to raise the funds! Veterinarians and cat owners – help us find cats with interesting health problems too! Remember, wild and exotic cats are welcome in this project too! In fact, the Pallas cat and Black-Footed cat have already been sequenced for this project!

Your donation will go toward sequencing cats from the list below:

Famous internet cats!

One of these yet to be sequenced breeds!

American Shorthair Manx Siamese Chartreux Norwegian Forest Cat Siberian Cornish Rex Ocicat Singapura Egyptian Mau Ragdoll Sokoke Havana Brown Russian Blue Sphynx Korat Scottish Fold Turkish Angora Maine Coon Selkirk Rex Turkish Van

Cats with specific health concerns, such as:

Cardiac disease: Birman, Norwegian Forest Cat, Siberians, Sphynx, Persians, Maine Coons

Amyloidosis: Abyssinian, Somali, Siamese, Orientals

Fast progressing Polycystic Kidney Disease: Persians, Exotics, Himalayan, Scottish Fold, Selkirk Rex, American Shorthair

Fun coat types and colors: Peterbalds, Don Sphynx, LaPerm, Lykoi, American Wirehairs

Urate (kidney and bladder) stones: Egyptian Mau

Uterine and Renal Aplasia (missing a kidney and uterine horn): Ragdolls

Cancers: all cats

– Lymphoma, Fibrosacromas, Squamous cell carcinomas, Melanoma, Mammary tumors

Diabetes: Burmese and domestic shorthair

We are already half way to reaching our goal of sequencing 99 cats! Click here to see our successfully sequenced feline friends!

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What is required?

– A small blood sample (6 mls EDTA purple top) needs to collected by your veterinarian

– Sponsorship for each cat of ~$7,000 USD

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Who is leading the project?

-The project has developed as collaboration between the University of Missouri and UC Davis but is extended to all researchers interested in feline health care. The Feline Genetics Laboratory of Leslie Lyons, PhD, at the University of Missouri is coordinating the project. For details – please e-mail: felinegenome@missouri.edu or call 01 573 884 2287

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