Preliminary genetic characterization of Felis Catus: European shorthair cat from Bosnia

Abstract

Felis Catus is a small carnivorous mammal and it is considered to be the only domesticated species among Felidae family. The purpose of this work is to genetically characterize cat breeds from Bosnia and Herzegovina and to compare them to one unknown completely different cat. To achieve this, samples of 20 cats that belong to the European Shorthair Cat (ESH) breed have been collected, plus the target subject. Further, for the genetic microsatellite characterization, the DNA material was isolated from each cat, in order to compare them to the sample taken from an unknown cat breed that will be referred to as the subject of this research. Genetic diversities within and between populations were be analyzed using 5 microsatellite markers. The obtained results showed that the subject cat genetically differs from other ESH breed cats, where the observed heterozygosity patterns within the cat breeds showed minimum but expected genetic variety among the analyzed cat species.