#Chimera genetics skin

If Venus isn't actually a chimera, then what would explain her amazing face? (Also see picture: 'Lobster Caught 'Half Cooked' in Maine.')

#Chimera genetics skin

With samples of skin from each side of the cat, 'we can do a DNA fingerprint-just like on CSI-and the DNA from one side of the body should be different than the other.' To find out would require genetic testing, said Lyons. The distinctively mottled orange and black coat is a sign that the cat has an extra X chromosome.īut female cats, said Lyons, already have two X chromosomes so they can sport that coat without the extra X. That means Venus is not necessarily a chimera. In fact, most male tortoiseshell cats are chimeras. A feline chimera is a cat whose cells contain two types of DNA, caused when two embryos fuse together.Īmong cats, 'chimeras are really not all that rare,' Lyons said. Many reports about Venus refer to the cat as a 'chimera.' In mythology, a chimera is a mishmash monster made up of parts of different animals. (See 'House Cat Origin Traced to Middle Eastern Wildcat Ancestor.') 'But you can explain it and you can understand it.' 'She is extremely, extremely rare,' Lyons said.

How does a cat end up looking like that? Leslie Lyons, a professor at the University of California, Davis, who studies the genetics of domestic cats said she's never seen a cat exactly like Venus.

One look at this cat and you can understand why: One half is solid black with a green eye-the other half has typical orange tabby stripes and a blue eye. The three-year-old tortoiseshell has her own Facebook page and a YouTube video that's been viewed over a million times, and appeared on the Today Show last week. Venus the two-faced cat is currently the most famous feline on the planet.