Felines useful for genetics research

(U-WIRE) LINCOLN, Neb -Whether you love or hate them, there is one thing you absolutely cannot deny. Cats are useful for teaching genetics.

At least, that's what Alan Christensen, associate professor of biology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has discovered.

In 1995, Christensen decided to try giving his Biological Sciences 301 genetics class an opportunity to earn extra credit by filling out a worksheet on a cat's genotype. A genotype describes a specific genetic aspect of an organism.

Most of the students observe cats from friends' houses, pet stores, the Humane Society or their own homes, he said. Some look at stray cats.

"You actually can get a remarkable amount of a cat's genetic background from just a quick look," Christensen said.

Students can tell four or five aspects of a cat's genotype with an easy, non-invasive examination. He said he instructed students not to intrude upon cats to check gender.

"It's completely cat-friendly," he said.

Students observe characteristics such as whether a cat is long- or short-haired, is white, has orange fur patterns or has piebald spotting, which are white blotches. Looking at these things can give clues to a cat's genotype.

Christensen passed his idea on to John Osterman, associate professor of biology, who is teaching the genetics course this semester. "It was clear to me that this was a good way of getting students to see a lot of the concepts discussed in class," Osterman said.

He said the project makes genetics more real for the students. Many of the organisms they study in class are not so much a part of everyday life. Using cats is a good way to observe more familiar organisms.

Because students don't have a lab in the class, it gives them hands-on experience, Osterman said.

The program has been highly successful, Christensen said, with nearly 100 percent of the students participating in the extra-credit project.

Once the results are in, the data are tabulated and used for illustrations in the population genetics section of the course.

In order to keep the data on the cat population for the area accurate, the professors instruct students to avoid counting the same cat twice. Christensen said he reviewed the sheets students turned in to see if there were any duplicates.

Cats from outside the general Nebraska and Iowa area are not included in the population data either, he said, though observing any cat will garner extra credit for students.

"I strongly encourage them to use cats from Nebraska or nearby, but I allow students to collect them from anywhere," Christensen said. Students have chosen cats from all over. Once a student even used her two cats from Japan, he said.

All of the extra credit available is given for collecting information on only one cat, but a few students go cat-wild and observe many more. "The record is 31 cats, shattering the old record of 15," Christensen said. The record is held by a student who observed cats on her farm.

Osterman said the data can be used to calculate the frequency and stability of cats' genotypes in the area's population. Cat populations tend to be stable in their characteristics, he said, so the information can be used in a variety of ways.

He said different frequencies of color combinations have made it possible to trace former trade routes in Europe. In the United States, some of the first settlers to travel through an area have left their mark with cats.

In Nebraska, much of the cat population comes from trail travelers, he said. "The typical barnyard cat probably has ancestors going back to the Oregon Trail," Osterman said.

Dana Novak, a sophomore biochemistry major currently enrolled in Osterman's class, said being able to look at a cat's fur to study its genes is a good application of genetics

"It relates to the next thing we're doing, because it will be about population genetics," she said. Novak plans to go home to Bellevue this weekend and look at her two cats there. "It's easy," she said. "It's definitely worth the 10 points."

Christensen said he has submitted a paper on the project titled "Cats as an Aid to Teaching Genetics" to the journal Genetics. He has not heard back from the journal, but he is optimistic.

"I think it's kind of a novel idea, and I'm hoping to get the paper published," he said. "I think it's a really good way to get students involved in the subject."