Leslie A. Lyons is an associate professor at

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

College of

Veterinary Medicine Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...

Career

In 2002, Lyons made international headlines by analyzing the DNA of the world's first cloned cat, a kitten named Cc:, and confirming that it was indeed a true

clone Clone or Clones or Cloning or Cloned or The Clone may refer to: Places * Clones, County Fermanagh * Clones, County Monaghan, a town in Ireland Biology * Clone (B-cell), a lymphocyte clone, the massive presence of which may indicate a pathologi ...

, a genetic copy of its mother. Lyons has helped develop DNA tests for polycystic kidney disease (PKD), an inherited condition that shortens the life of cats by causing them to suffer

kidney The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blood ...

cysts. Previous tests for this condition involved

ultrasound scanning Medical ultrasound includes diagnostic techniques (mainly medical imaging, imaging techniques) using ultrasound, as well as therapeutic ultrasound, therapeutic applications of ultrasound. In diagnosis, it is used to create an image of internal ...

and were not very accurate, unlike the DNA test devised by Lyons. Approximately one third of all

Persian cat The Persian cat (), also known as the Persian longhair, is a long-haired breed of cat characterized by a round face and short muzzle. The first documented ancestors of Persian cats were imported into Italy from Persia around 1620. Widely recog ...

s carried the PKD gene at one time, but because of ultrasound testing and the newer, more accurate DNA tests, these PKD-carrier cats are gradually being identified and removed from the feline

gene pool The gene pool is the set of all genes, or genetic information, in any population, usually of a particular species. Description A large gene pool indicates extensive genetic diversity, which is associated with robust populations that can surv ...

by spaying and neutering. A

DNA test Genetic testing, also known as DNA testing, is used to identify changes in DNA sequence or chromosome structure. Genetic testing can also include measuring the results of genetic changes, such as RNA analysis as an output of gene expression, or ...

for feline coat color carriers and feline parentage has also been developed by Lyons, and is being offered to cat breeders, like the PKD test, so that they can determine whether cats they have bred have correct pedigrees, and whether these cats carry colorpoints, Burmese Colour Restriction, long hair, colour dilution or rare coat colors, such as chocolate and cinnamon. One of Lyons' current projects is identification of the genes that cause

head defect A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may not h ...

, a lethal deformity in American

Burmese cat The Burmese cat ( my, ဗမာကြောင်, ''Băma kyaung'', th, ทองแดง or ศุภลักษณ์, or , meaning copper colour) is a breed of domestic cat, originating in Burma, believed to have its roots near the Th ...

s. She is also working on identifying genes that cause Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA), which causes affected kittens to become blind at the age of approximately two months. Although much of Lyons' research has dealt with cats, she also works on resources for gene mapping of other companion animals, such as dogs and horses. She has a partial appointment with the

California National Primate Research Center The California National Primate Research Center (CNPRC) is a federally funded biomedical research facility, dedicated to improving human and animal health, and located on the University of California, Davis, campus. The CNPRC is part of a network o ...

and is developing new genetic research for the rhesus macaque.

References

*1. *2
Lyons' Den Homepage
at http://felinegenetics.missouri.edu/ Year of birth missing (living people) Living people University of California, Davis faculty American geneticists {{US-scientist-stub