TheSiberian Tigerit shares 95.6% of its genome with the domestic cat, from which it differed approximately 10.8 million years ago, according to a pioneering study on felines published in the journal ‘Nature Communications’.
The work, the work of a team of scientists led by Yun Sung Cho, from the Suwon Genome Research Foundation (South Korea), has traced for the first time the genetic sequence of the planet’s big cats, including the Amur tiger. or Siberian tiger, Bengal tiger, African lion, White lion and Snow leopard.
Thecomparative analysis of big cat genomesshows thatgenes related to muscle strength, energy metabolismand some nerve networks such as those related tosight and smellthey experienced aswift evolution in tiger. And everything indicates that these animals adapted to the environment to becomeferocious predators capable of digesting large volumes of food. The scientists also found a mutation in the TYR gene of the white lion that had previously been linked to certain forms of albinism in humans, and that could explain the fur color of this pale feline.
The lion, tiger and leopard data from this study provide a very valuable source of information that couldimprove conservation efforts for these endangered species, which in the last century has seen its population reduce by 97%. Specifically, it could help the countries meeting in 2010 at the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit to achieve their goal of doubling the population of this feline in the wild by 2022.
