News in Brief Animals

Cat-versus-virus arms race goes back millennia

kitten

Evidence from a protein that helps combat the feline version of HIV suggests a lengthy conflict between cats and the virus. 

GALGENTX/FLICKR (CC BY 2.0)

By Tina Hesman Saey

- More than 2 years ago

Cats have been fighting feline immuno­deficiency virus, or FIV, for at least 60,000 years. In a feline protein that helps stop FIV replication, researchers have found evidence of an ancient arms race between Felis silvestris catus, the species familiar today as the domestic cat, and the virus.