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Cinnamon, Boris and Sylvester have become heroes in the scientific community.

The cats have given up a small part of their genetic material to help researchers, for the first time, sequence the entire domestic cat genome.

Cats can suffer the same diseases as humans - such as leukaemia and AIDS - and scientists say details about the cat genome could help doctors better understand these conditions.

The researched involved an international team who were able to sequence the genome of Cinnamon, an Abyssinian cat living at the University of Missouri in Columbia (left)

There have been a number of attempts at sequencing domestic cat DNA, but this is the first project to successfully map a domestic cat's entire genome.

It involved an international team who were able to sequence the genome of Cinnamon, an Abyssinian cat living at the University of Missouri in Columbia.

Cinnamon was sequenced in 2007, but the technology at the time was only picked up about 60 per cent of her total DNA.

A cat's genome is of particular interest to geneticists because their genome hasn't changed much since they first evolved.Scientists now hope to be able to compare a cat genomes to humans to see whether there are similarities, and why were are vulnerable to similar diseases

The team also looked at the genes of Boris, a cat from St Petersburg and Sylvester, a European wildcat, according to a report by Annalee Newitz in iO9. 

The cat's genome is of particular interest to geneticists because it hasn't changed much since the creatures first evolved.

Scientists now hope to be able to compare a cat genomes to humans to see whether there are similarities, and why both are vulnerable to similar diseases.

A separate project, the 99 Lives Cat Whole Genome Sequencing Initiative is also collecting DNA samples from cats worldwide.

The work requires samples from cats that are neutered. The cats' leftover ovaries, uteruses and testicles contain DNA that can be extracted.

They hope a full mapping of those 20,000 genes in different breeds could help pinpoint the genetic cause of distinguishing marks, like fur and eye colours and also cat health problems.

It's estimated that pet owners in the US spend $26 billion (£15.5 billion) a year on looking after their cat's health.

In the UK, the average cost of looking after a cat is £17,000 ($28,500) over its lifetime.