CAT COAT GENETICSKelly McGowan

CAT COAT GENES

Color Red Black

Pattern tabby/spotted Color Density full color/faded color Color blocks (white patches)

COAT COLOR Pigment genes- red dominant, x linked

Dense Dilute

Black Based(eumelanin)

BlackB-

Black Blue

BrownBb

Chocolate Lilac

Lt. brownblbl

Cinnamon Fawn

Red Based(phaeomelanin)

O- Red Cream

COAT COLOR EXAMPLES

strangehistory.netrussianblue.info

pictures-of-cats.org mysticat.ru

B-D-

bbD-

B-dd

bbdd

CAT COLOR EXAMPLES

fotothing.com animal-photography.com

k.mcgowan thehorizonclan.webs.com

bibiD-bibidd

O-D- O-dd

COAT PATTERN

Tabby- swirled pattern on cat

seregiontica.org

Mackerel-normal striped tabby pattern

seregiontica.org

Ticked- stripes on legs and tail

Spotted- stripes on legs and tail with “leopard spots” on body

seregiontica.org

seregiontica.org

COAT COLOR PATTERNING- WHITE SPOTS Gene for absence of color- spotting

factor SSS- more whiteSs- ventral whitess- no white4

plasticbubbleworld.blogspot.com

thefullwiki.org

GENE CODES

O-/B-/bb/bibi :color- red>black>brown>cinnamonD-/dd:

color: dense>dilute SS/Ss/ss:

white coat color- mostly white> ventral white> no white A-/aa: Agouti

Tabby pattern>no tabby pattern (solid) Ta-/Tm-/tt

Tabby: ticked>mackerel>classic

OTHER GENES

There are also other genes that account for points, like a Siamese cat- head, feet and tails darker color

Mutations that cause long hair Some suggest that many of the white

genes are additive There are many different names for all

of the cat genes, and some are just suspected genes…

PEDIGREES

?

OB/D-/ss/A-/Tm-

B-/D-/ss/A-/Tm-

B-/D-/ss/aa/--

B-/D-/ss/A-/Tm- O-/D-/ss/A-/Tm-

OB/D-/ss?/Aa/Tm-BB/?/ss/Aa/Tm-

PEDIGREES?/??

B-/D-/Ss/A-/Tm-

BB/D-/ss/A-/Tm-BB/D-/Ss/A-/tt

Grey tabby with whiteBB/D-/SS/A-/Tmt

?Black striped tabbyBB/D-/ss/A-/Tmt

PEDIGREES

B-/dd/Ss/aa/--

B-/dd/SS/aa/--

B-/dd/SS/aa/--

B-/dd/SS/aa/--

B-/(D-)dd/Ss(ss)/aa/-- ?

PEDIGREES

?

B-/D-/Ss/A-/Tm-Bb/dd/ss/aa/--

Black /tabby and whiteB-/D-d/SS*/A-/--

?

B-/dd/SS/aa/--B-/dd/SS/aa/--

B-/dd/ss/Aa/Tm-

This does not make any sense in normal mendelian genetics, becaseu tomcat would not be possible. I think the mother must be hetero for S, and be mosltly white because of other gene affects.

B-/D-/Ss/aa/--B-/D-/Ss/aa/--

?? B-/D-/SS/aa/--

B-/D-/ss/aa/--

ERRORS

Some sources think the white genes may be additive, so there may not be a clear cut between ventral white, <50% and white with spots, >50% as thought.

The queens at the main feral colony are all related-either sisters or mother/daughter. There are 1-2 white queens with black spots, 1-2 white queens with grey spots, without knowing that I should have been looking at striping patterns too, some may be black tabby…. Which may look grey from afar.

WORKS UNCITED

Cooper M., Fretwell N., Bailey S., Lyons L. (2005) White spotting in the domestic cat (Felis catus) maps near KIT on feline chromosome B1, Animal Genetics (37) 163-165.

Grahn R., Lemesch B., Millon L., Matise T., Rogers Q., Morris J., Fretwell N., Bailey S., Batt R., Lyons L., (2005) Localizing the X-liked orange color phenotype using feline resource families, Animal Genetics, (36) 67-70.

Kaelin C. Barsh G., (2010) Tabby pattern genetics- a whole new breed of cat, Pigment Cell Melanoma Res. (23) 514-516.

Ludovic S., Bonhomme F., Desmarais E, Pontier D. (2003) Microspatial Genetic heterogeneity and gene flow in stray cats (Felis catus L. ): a comparison of coat colour and microsatellite loci, Molecular Ecology (2003) (12) 1669-1674.

Lyons L., Bailey S., Baysac K., Byrns G., Erdman C., Fretwell N., Froenicke L., Gazlay K., Geary L., Grahn J., Grahn R., Karere G., Lipinski M., Rah H., Tuhe M., Bach L. (2006) The Tabby Cat Locus Maps to Feline9 Chromosome B1, Animal Genetics (37) 383-3986.

Thomas D., Starbuck O., Cat color FAQs: cat color genetics [Internet]. 1994-2004 http://www.fanciers.com/other-faqs/color-genetics.html#intro (uploaded 1 November 2012)

Feline Coat color tests [Internet]. Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, The Regents of the University of California, 2012. http://www.vgl.ucdavis.edu/services/coatcolorcat.php (uploaded 1 November 2012)