Carlos A. Driscoll studies the evolutionary relationships and domestication of cats using genetic evidence. In a 2007 study, Driscoll and colleagues compared 979 domestic cats and wildcats sampled across different geographical populations.[ref]
The Near Eastern origin of cat domestication by Carlos A. Driscoll and others. Science 317, pp. 519–523; primary byline, abstract and sampling
The analysis combined variation in microsatellites with mitochondrial genomes. These provide complementary ancestry signals: the mitochondrial genome traces a maternal lineage, while the sampled nuclear DNA markers capture additional relationships. The study found domestic cats genetically close to sampled Near Eastern wildcats and used this pattern to infer an origin associated with that region.[ref]
The Near Eastern origin of cat domestication by Carlos A. Driscoll and others. Abstract and genetic analyses; nuclear markers, mitochondrial DNA and ancestry inference
The motivating comparison is more informative than similarity in appearance alone. If domestic animals group with one regional wild population across genetic markers, that supplies evidence about ancestry. It does not by itself determine the exact place, date or cultural sequence of domestication; those historical questions also depend on sampling and other kinds of evidence.
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