On Aug. 5, 2014, the genome sequence of the common cat was published in GigaScience. The DNA of a 4-year-old Abyssinian cat named Cinnamon, whose well-documented lineage was traced back several generations to Sweden.

The Cat Genome Project was based at the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, Md. Cinnamon lived in a cat colony maintained at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

The presented genome annotation extends beyond earlier ones by closing gaps of sequence that were unavoidable with previous low-coverage shotgun genome sequencing. The assembly and its annotation offer an important resource for connecting the rich veterinary and natural history of cats to genome discovery.