Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 17, 2025
Single Cell Transcriptional Profiling of Adult Mouse Cardiomyocytes
Published on: December 28, 2011
Establishing a robust genetic sequencing and gene expression data library in cardiovascularly healthy cats
Joanna L Kaplan1, Victor N Rivas2, Jalena R Wouters1
1Department of Medicine and Epidemiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA, 95616, USA.
Insights
Researchers created genetic and gene expression libraries from healthy cats to understand feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). This resource will aid future discoveries in feline cardiovascular precision medicine.
Area of Science:
- Veterinary Genetics
- Cardiovascular Research
- Feline Medicine
Background:
- Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of illness and death in cats.
- Feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a common, hereditary heart condition with an unclear genetic basis.
- Understanding the genetic factors of feline HCM requires well-characterized healthy control populations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To build a comprehensive genetic sequencing and gene expression library from cardiovascularly healthy cats.
- To establish a foundational resource for future research into feline cardiovascular precision medicine and HCM genetics.
Main Methods:
- Whole genome sequencing (WGS) was performed on DNA from 18 healthy, client-owned cats (≥10 years old).
- RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) was conducted on left ventricular, interventricular septum, and left atrial tissues from 15 purpose-bred cats.
- Standard bioinformatics pipelines were used for variant calling and gene expression profiling.
Main Results:
- Gene variants and expression profiles were catalogued from the meticulously selected feline cohorts.
- Robust WGS and RNA-Seq data libraries were generated.
- These libraries serve as an open-access resource for the scientific community.
Conclusions:
- The study successfully created valuable genetic and transcriptomic datasets from healthy cats.
- This resource is crucial for advancing the understanding of feline cardiovascular diseases, particularly HCM.
- Facilitates future genetic and pharmacogenetic discoveries in feline cardiovascular precision medicine.
Abstract:
Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of increased morbidity and mortality in cats, with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) significantly overrepresented. While feline HCM is hereditary, the genetic etiology of disease remains poorly understood. Establishing a cohort of well-phenotyped and -genotyped healthy control cats is essential to fuel future genetic/pharmacogenetic discoveries. We sought to construct a robust genetic sequencing and gene expression library from cardiovascularly healthy cats using whole genome sequencing (WGS) and RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq). Fifty-four client-owned cats (≥ 10 years) were screened, of which 18 cats (cohort 1) were prospectively enrolled after being deemed cardiovascularly healthy by clinicopathology, biochemistry, and echocardiography. DNA isolated from blood samples was submitted for paired-end WGS at ~ 30X coverage. Standard pipelines were employed for variant calling across sequenced cats. A second cohort of 15 purpose-bred cats were euthanized for non-cardiac reasons. Flash-frozen left ventricular (LV), interventricular septum (IVS), and left atrium (LA) tissues from 11, 14, and 13 cats, respectively, were submitted for stranded mature RNA-Seq at 50 million reads/sample. Gene variants and expression profiling were catalogued for both meticulously selected cohorts. Transcriptomic and WGS data libraries were generated to serve as an open-access resource in future investigations of feline cardiovascular precision medicine.
More Related Videos
05:54Preparation of a Non-Cardiomyocyte Cell Suspension for Single-Cell RNA Sequencing from a Post-Myocardial Infarction Adult Mouse Heart
Published on: February 3, 2023
05:04In vitro Assessment of Cardiac Reprogramming by Measuring Cardiac Specific Calcium Flux with a GCaMP3 Reporter
Published on: February 22, 2022