Read More: New DNA Analysis Shows How Cats Spread Around the World http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/dna-st... "Cats seem like they could care less about their adoring owners, flicking their tails as they walk away. But cats and their people go way back. Researchers recently traced their spread around the world to their relations with farmers and travels with merchants and Vikings, Ewen Callaway reports for Nature."
Comparative analysis of the domestic cat genome reveals genetic signatures underlying feline biology and domestication http://www.pnas.org/content/111/48/17230.abstract "We present highlights of the first complete domestic cat reference genome, to our knowledge. We provide evolutionary assessments of the feline protein-coding genome, population genetic discoveries surrounding domestication, and a resource of domestic cat genetic variants."
Cats Traveled with Vikings and Farmers http://www.seeker.com/cats-traveled-with-viking... "The early origins of domesticated cats are shrouded in mystery, but a new genetic analysis suggests that felines traveled the world with farmers and Vikings. The News section of Nature reports that the broadest genetic analysis to date of ancient cats reveals two waves of cat expansion. In the first wave, cats spread from the Middle East into the eastern Mediterranean, alongside human farmers." ____________________
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