Old tom cats have more mutations in their sperm like older human males

By Michael Le Page

Genome sequencing of cats and their kittens has shown that the sperm of older tom cats has more mutations, just like that of older human males. This may show evidence of a universal phenomenon in male animals.

“Our results suggest that this paternal age effect is general to mammals, and indeed anything that is producing sperm,” says Richard Wang at Indiana University in Bloomington.

Each human is typically born with about 50 to 60 small mutations – such as a change …