White - allowed in almost all breeds, eye color is allowed: orange, blue, variously colored (one orange, the other blue), some green eyes. White cats of the eastern group with blue eyes - "forin white" (coded by SIA w 67- since genetically it is white Siamese with Siamese eye color). Oriental white cats with green eyes are considered orientals (ORI w 64)
The black - (black, seal, ebony, brown) - allowed in almost all breeds. In the eastern group is called "ebony", in color colors - "forces" (force-point)
Chocolate (chesnut - CFA) - the variant of the black gene - in the eastern group is called "havana".
Blue - Clarified black, differs in that in some breeds silver typing (British, Persians) is not allowed, and in others it is required (Russian blue).
Purple (lavender-CFA) - clarified chocolate, the standards require a gentle tone of "withered rose, with a pink tinge."
Red - Genetics is never free from a tabby pattern (of one kind or another). However, in Persians, as well as in some other breeds, tabby patterns are not clearly discernible, animals are exposed as "red" and "red tabby".
Cream - Clarified red.
Tortie color
- inherent, as a rule, only cats (linked to the floor). Color options:
- black turtle - a combination of black and red
Black turtle.
Chocolate turtle - a combination of chocolate and red
- blue turtle (blue-cream) - a combination of blue and cream
- lilac tortoise (lilac-cream) - a combination of purple and cream
Attention! It is very important to be able to distinguish tortoiseshell color and color tabby tortie (torby). Tortie color is a combination of black (and its derivatives) and red (or cream). As is known from genetics, red color always has this or that tabby pattern (stripes, stains, divorces). Therefore, the red (cream) part of the color will be unevenly colored - this is a "fragment" of red striped (mottled, marble, etc.) color. Carefully look at the "black" (blue, etc.) part of the color: if on this color there are no stripes, spots, color uniform - means, in front of you just a cat tortoiseshell.
Tabby Is not a color, but a kind of pattern that can be combined with any color: red tabby, blue tabby, etc.
Spotted - marble - ticked - striped
Tabby options:
- Classical (marble) classical
Spotted spotted
- ticked (stripped, abyssinian) ticked
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Tabby images appear on the cat only in the presence of the gene "A" - agouti, which, as it were, opens one or another type of tabby. All cats have this or that variant of tabby, but not all have gene "A". Cats with a recessive allele "aa" - not agouti have "continuous" (even color), but when mated with an animal "A" - a smooth (solid) cat gives kittens with a tabby pattern.
Color black tabby in European standards is often called "brown tabby", but it is specifically black tabby, and not some other.
Gold Tabby
golden tabby - genetically this color does not exist. What the breeders call a "golden" color is nothing more than a well-painted black tabby. Due to the genetics of this color, the outer hair is divided, as it were, by transverse strips of a darker and lighter color. With good care, proper nutrition, certain polygene work, the "light" part of the hair becomes almost yellow. In general, the color of the cat becomes more elegant: on a light brown, almost yellow background, contrasting bands are black. Now there are preliminary standards for coloring the "golden tabby".
Attention! Do not confuse the "residual" (ghost, ghostly, children's) tabby in kittens with a tabby pattern. Kittens can have a soft tabby pattern, which disappears, as a rule, to 10-12 months. You can distinguish the residual and true tabby: according to the origin of kittens (from two animals without agouti, tabby kittens are not born), according to the intensity of the color.
Torby (tortoiseshell tabby, patched tabby) - a combination of tortoiseshell color and tabby pattern. It differs in the intensity of the tabby pattern above the tortoiseshell color: at the first glance at the cat we see that this animal is a tabby figure, and only looking closely, we notice that this turtle is red (cream) spots. The main thing is a clear tabby pattern, it goes evenly along both red (cream) and black (blue and other) colors.
Bicolors - the combination of the main color with white. Approximately no more than 1/3 and not less than 1/5 of white. Many standards allow the combination of not only solid colors (black, red, etc.) with white, but also tabby (black tabby with white), smoky colors with white, etc. The combination of the Siamese scheme of color with white is allowed only in ragdolls and Neva masquerades.
Van - color, in which only the hat on the head and the tail are colored.
Harlequin - color intermediate between bicolor and van.
Particolors (calico) - a combination of tortoiseshell and white. It is with white! See the original name "torty and white" !!! No tortoiseshell anywhere put and did not put, so the tortoise ON WHITE - illiterate.
Jollicat Lusi of Luana
Smoke and silver - the gene inhibitor of melanin absorbs a part of the coloring material in the cat hair and is obtained:- smoky colors (smoke) - colored 6/8 part of the guard hair, undercoat white
- shaded (veiled, shaded) - Painted approximately 1 \\ 3 of the awn, undercoat white
- 1/8 of the tipped hair (tipped) - chinchilla (black, chocolate, etc.), cameo (red, cream), undercoat white
Siamese scheme of color
(color scheme, color-points) - is allowed for many cultural breeds. It is possible to write Russian equivalents (with dark brown marks, with red marks, etc.) and English (force point, force-tortie point, etc.). American options - lynx point (tabby point), flame point (red point), frost point (blue point)
Abyssinian colors
- although they are inherent in the Abyssinian and Somali breeds, such colors are allowed in other breeds - orientals,
Oriental black ticked tabby.
British.
The founder of the red ticked tabby line in the British breed -
Nando von der Bunten Stadt - Nursery Locust Valley.
Colors are formed by combining the basic colors and ticked tabby:
- black + ticked tabby = wild color usual, ruddy
cinnamon + ticked tabby = sorrel
- caramel (caramel) + ticked tabby = fawn beige background
There are also colors blue, chocolate, red (linked to the floor), and also a group of tortoiseshells and silvery (silvery wild, silvery sorrel, etc.).
If you doubt what color the Abyssinian or Somali cat is, look at the tip of the tail (if it's a sorrel - it's a light chocolate color, and if red - the tip of the tail is clarified, almost white), on the pads of the paws and the tips of the outer hair.
The Burmese scheme color - Burmese marks are not as contrasting as Siamese. The combination of the main colors with the burma marks gives the colors:
- black + Burmese points = brown (brown), sable (sable), natural mink
- chocolate Burmese points = champagne, honey mink
- lilac + Burmese points = platinum.
Sepia agouti - color singapura, genetically black, ticked tabby, Burmese point
So, you decided to purchase a kitten or already a happy owner of a kitten and, having read the family tree, did not understand anything about it. Not that it would be written incomprehensibly, there is a feeling that the numbers and letters denoting colors do not tell you anything.
So, let's start quietly revealing secrets.
In fact, everything is quite simple. In cats, there are two main colors: red and black, all other colors are derived from these two colors. How so, you ask .. and silvery, golden, with a marble and mottled pattern, finally white, that too from red and black ... Yes, that's it ..
Cat colors by type
Abyssinian Point (Abyssinian Point). The combination of color point and ticking.
Agouti (Agouti). Wild color. In the agouti colors, every hair on the cat's body has pronounced zones - ticking, the tip of the hair has the color of the main color - typing.
Harlequin (Harlequin). Color van, with additional evenly distributed spots on the body and legs. Intermediate between bicolor and van.
Bicolor (Bi-Color). Evenly distributed spots of the primary color on white.
Van bicolor (Van / Van Bicolour). White color with a colored tail and the same spots on the head between the ears.
Smoky color (Smoke). A single-colored version of silver tabby (typing no more than 1/2 of the total length of the hairs).
Shaded color (Shaded). Silvery and golden colors, similar to chinchillas and differing from them a little longer typing length (no more than 1/4 of the total length of hairs). The term "shaded" is also used to refer to this type of color for red, cream and tortoiseshell variations.
Calico (Calico). The combination of tortoiseshell color with white without agouti, smoke and silver. The ideal color of the calico-patches of different colors should not have common boundaries, but be separated by white.
Links tabby point (Lynx / Tabby Point). Color point with a tabby pattern.
Mitted (Mitted). White "slippers" on all four paws.
Mink (Mink). The body is darker than the color of the point, and the tips of the paws and muzzle are even darker.
Weakened color (Dilute). Lightening intense colors of black - to blue, chocolate - to lilac, red - to cream, etc.
Particolor (Parti-Color). Turtle color takes no more than a third of the body surface.
Point (Pointed). Siamese or Himalayan color - body lighter than paws, tail and ears.
Sepia (Sepia). The solid color of Burmese cats, the outdated name for the color of "ivory" in Siamese cats.
Silver color (Silver). Colors tabby, similar to wild colors, but differing from them by the background color (white with a grayish tint, reminiscent of the color of silver).
Solid (Solid / Self). Coat color is only one color, without agouti.
Tabby (Tabby). Groups of color cats that have a characteristic pattern of stripes and spots on the muzzle, limbs and tail and are classified by the type of pattern on the body.
Ticking (Ticking). Alternating parts of the background (from grayish-yellow to bright orange) and the primary color on each coat hair of cats agouti. The width of these sections, small at the root, increases to the tip of the hair. The number of sites is not always the same for different colors and varies from 4 to 7-10.
Type (Tipping). The ends of the hair of a cat's fur, usually having the color of the main color.
Torby (Torby). The combination of tortoiseshell color with tabby.
Torbico (Torbico). Combination of tortoiseshell tabby with white.
Tricolor (Tri-Color). Tortoise bicolor; the same as calico.
Tortie color (Tortie). Color, typical, as a rule, only for female animals. Intermittent spots of black (blue, chocolate, lilac, cinnamon or faunal) and red (cream) color on the cat's fur.
Tortie Point (Tortie Point). Color point with tortoiseshell marks.
Chinchilla (Chinchilla). The name of a specific silvery and golden color, characterized by an almost complete absence of the usual tabby pattern, a decrease in the size of the main color areas and an increase in the background areas in the ticking, while typing takes no more than 1/8 of the total length of the hairs.
Learn More
The concept of color in cats covers, firstly, the actual color of a cat's fur, Secondly, drawing strips on wool or lack thereof, thirdly, presence or absence on the wool white spots different sizes and order of their location, fourthly, different degrees of coloration of the wool.
About pigments
Color of wool, the skin and eyes of the cat is due to the presence of pigment in them melanin. Melanin is in the body of the hair in the form of microscopic granules, which differ in shape, size and quantity, which causes differences in color. There are two chemical types of melanin: eumelanin (eumelanin) and pheomelanin (phaeomelanin). Eumelanin granules are spherical and absorb almost the entire light, giving a black pigmentation. Pheumelanine granules are elongated (ellipsoidal), and reflect light in the red-yellow-orange range.
Eumelanin is responsible for black color (and its derivatives - chocolate, blue, lilac, faun, cinnamon), and feumelanin - for red (cream). Genes that are responsible for the manifestation of red (O - orange) or black (o - not orange) are located in the X chromosome, that is, inheritance of the color is linked to the sex. Cats have two X chromosomes and, accordingly, three variants of color:
GS - red,
XX - black,
Oo - tortoiseshell (red-black).
Cats have one X chromosome and, depending on which gene it carries O or O, it will be red or black. Turtle color in cats appears only in case of genetic disorders, and such cats are sterile.
Thus, the inheritance of characters whose genes are located in the X or Y chromosome is called linked to the sex. Genes localized in the X chromosome and not having alleles in the Y chromosome are inherited from the mother to the son, in particular, the red cat can not be born in the black cat, and vice versa, the red cat can not give birth to the cat of the black series.
White color
White color - this is the complete absence of pigmentation. In cats, solid white wool can be obtained in three different cases:
White albino - a recessive option, which in cats is very rare.
Solid white spots - are manifested under the influence of the white spot factor (S), which dominates not completely, subject to polygenetic modifications and usually leads to the fact that the cat is colored white not all. However, the spots may be so dense that the animal looks completely white. White spots are described in the following sections.
Dominant white - this mutation suppresses all other pigmentation genes, and leads to the appearance of white coat color and blue eyes. As the name implies, this is the effect of the dominant white gene (W). In the case of dominant white, the genes of other colors and patterns are present, but they are completely hidden. The only way to determine the main genotype in practice (prior to the occurrence of a genetic analysis for determining the genotype of a cat) is to cross a well-known genotype with colored cats. Crossing the two dominant whites usually leads to the appearance of completely white kittens, but if both parents are heterozygous (W / w), then some kittens may have their primary colors. If the genotype of white parents is not known from the pedigree or trial crossings - the result of mating is unpredictable.
Dominant white occurs in different breeds. Sometimes white Oriental Oriental cats are considered by some associations as a separate breed. In the dominant white color, the blue color of the eyes is much deeper than that of albinos, and this is considered a virtue. The best blue color of the eyes is noted in completely white Oriental Oriental cats carrying a depressed chocolate color gene.
Deafness in cats is associated with spotted (S) and dominant white (W) genes, but not with the albinism gene (c / c or ca / ca).
Agouti and non-agouti
Color of cats are very diverse. Some cats are painted evenly - these are the so-called solid colors or solidities. Other cats have a pronounced pattern - in the form of strips, circles. This picture is called tabby. Tabby "Opens" on the coat due to the dominant A-agouti gene. This gene stains every cat hair in uniformly alternating dark and light transverse striae.
In dark strips, more pigment eumelanin is concentrated, in light ones - less, and the pigment granules are elongated, becoming ellipsoidal and arranged to be discharged along the length of the hair.
But if a homozygous allele (aa) -non-agouti appears in the genotype of the black animal, the tabby pattern does not appear and the color turns out to be continuous. Such influence of some genes on other, non-allelic with them genes, is called an epistasis. That is, the allele (aa) has an epistatic effect on the tabby genes, it covers them up, masks, does not appear. At the same time, the effect of the allele (aa) does not extend to the O (orange) gene. Therefore, cats of red (cream) color always have an open tabby pattern, and solid red color in cats is obtained by breeder work of the breeder, when selection is made for wider dark-colored stripes, the close arrangement of which is perceived by the human eye as a solid red color.
In this way, all cats are tabby, but not all are agouti. Confirmation that all cats have tabby in their genotype - the residual "ghostly" children's tabby in many kittens. This residual tabby in cats of solid color leaves, the cat fades, the hair changes and becomes evenly colored.
Zoned hair staining under the influence of the agouti gene
Ticking and Tabby
Agouti - the phenomenon of zoned hair dyeing. Each hair is divided into several zones, each of which is colored in different degrees: some zones are painted more intensively, others are less or not painted at all. The group of agouti-colors in cats include tabby color, shaded, "chinchilla". Agouti-colors are found in many species of animals: rabbits, gerbils, chinchillas, guinea pigs, etc.
Tabby - drawing on wool. All the tabbies have fine lines on the muzzle, impressively tracing eyes, and forming the letter "M" on the forehead. If you look at the hair near you can see that each hair is colored with dark and light strips. This alternation is called "Agouti". It is generally accepted that the tabby is the original color of cats, otherwise it is called "wild color"; characteristic small wild feline.
Tabbi-mackerel - striped "brindle" color, pattern in the form of parallel vertical strips.
Classic tabby, marble tabby - wide spiral strips on the sides resembling marble streaks, three strips along the ridge, a spotted abdomen, on the tail and paws of a band in the form of rings.
Spotted Tabby - evenly distributed small spots throughout the body. The spots can be in the form of interrupted bands.
Ticked tabby, Abyssinian tabby or agouti tabby - without stripes or spots on the body, but with a pattern on the muzzle and agouti on the body. This color is characteristic for the breed of Abyssinian cats.
Cat hair with ticked shaded color
Cat hair with a smoky color
Cat hair with shaded color
Cat hair with shaded red (cameo) color
Group of solid colors
The black - black color, with well-colored hair to the roots, without pattern and light spots.
Red - dark red color, with well-colored hair to the roots, without pattern and light spots. The nose of the nose and the paw pads are brick red. Eyes - copper or dark orange.
Cremovy - uniform color, any marks and spots are inadmissible. Cream color covers each hair evenly to the root. Undercoat should not be light or white. The nose of the nose and the paw pads are pink. Eyes orange or copper
Blue - gray shade of wool, preferably light, clean and even, without shades and hairs of a different color. The nose and paw pads are bluish-gray. Eye color is orange or green.
Blue-torty tortoiseshell - Light blue and cream colors are mixed throughout the body and limbs. The nose of the nose and the paw pads are pink, bluish-gray or pink with bluish-gray spots.
Chocolate
Piebald colors
Different degree of manifestation of white spotting factor in piebald colors
Piebald color - is a manifestation of the factor of white spotting or otherwise peosty. Piebald colors are characterized by the arrangement of colored spots on a white background. Depending on the degree of manifestation of white spotting genes, colors are distinguished:
Wang - (maximum) all white with a painted tail and 1-2 small stained spots on the head above eye level and below the ears. Also, a small colored spot in the shoulder area and small spots on the back sides of the limbs are permissible.
Harlequin - mostly white with a few small stained spots on the body and limbs.
Bicolor - the majority of the skin is dark, and the smaller part is unpainted, white, in an indeterminate ratio.
Among the bicolors can be identified colors:
With white gloves - with white spots covering the lower part of the paws
With white medallion - white spot on the chest
With white buttons - one or more small white spots
Tuxedo - with white paws and chest. Can have a little white on the head. This is an informal definition.
Calico The combination of tortoiseshell color with white, with white color prevailing.
Silvery colors
A group of silvery colors is characterized by the lightening of a certain zone of each hair to whiteness. The luminescence is due to the influence of the dominant silver gene I (Sv).
Smoky - approximately half the length of each hair is colored, and the rest is white. Owners of smoky color necessarily neaguti; that is, homozygous for the recessive gene a, which prohibits the manifestation of the pattern. Residual bands, moire for smoky cats are a defect in color.
Black smoky - Black with white roots.
Blue Smoky - blue with white roots.
Chocolate smoke - chocolate with white roots.
Purple Smoky - purple with white roots.
Red Smoky - Red with white roots.
Colors of cats bearing the silver gene and carrying carriers of the agouti A gene, which allows the manifestation of the pattern:
Silver Tabby - A cat with a pattern on a completely white background. Each hair is colored zoned: the lighter bands are brightened to whiteness, the darker ones retain their original color.
Shaded - 1/3 of the tip of the hair is colored, the rest is white.
Chinchilla - 1/8 of the tip of the hair is colored, the rest is white.
Silver tabby, shaded and chinchilla can be either black or blue, chocolate, lilac, etc. For example:
Black Silver Tabby - A cat with a black pattern on a white background.
Blue Silver Tabby - A cat with a blue pattern on a white background.
Chocolate shaded - a white cat with chocolate tips of hair, painted on a third.
Blue chinchilla - white cat with blue hair tips, painted on 1/8.
Cameo - a word that is traditionally added to the name of red or cream shaded, chinchillas or smoky color. For example: "red shaded cameo."
Acromelanic colors
Colorpoint (from English color - color and point - finiteness) - belongs to the group of acromelanic (temperature-dependent) colors, and I am one of the forms of albinism. This group of colors is characterized by a slightly colored, light (from white to cream) body and darker paws, tail, muzzle and ears.
There are varieties of point color:
force-point (from English seal - seal) - very dark gray, almost black color;
blu-point - "blue" (dark gray);
red point - "red" (red);
chocolate point - Brown;
cream point - cream;
cake-point - tortoiseshell;
tabby point - Striped.
COLORS
The code for the picture is recorded in the form XXX.xx.NN.NN.NN. (NN), where:
XXX - capital letters of breeds of three letters, see breed codes
xx - lower case letters (up to two letters):
a blue blue
b chocolate (brown, chestnut) chocolate (brown, chestnut, havana, champagne)
c lilac (lavender) purple (lavender, platinum)
d red, flame red
e cream cream
f tortoiseshell tortoiseshell
g blue-cream, blue-tortie blue-cream, blue-torty
h chocolate-tortie chocolate tortie
j lilac-tortie lilac tortie
n black, ebony, seal, sable, ruddy black, force, sable, wild
o sorrel, cinnamon, honey sorrel, red-brown, brown, honey
p beige fawn yellow-brown, "beige fawn"
q sorrel tortie red-brown tortie
r beige fawn tortie yellow-brown tortoiseshell
s silver, smoke silvery, smoky
w white white
y golden golden
x unregistered unregistered, unrecognized color
NN.NN.NN. (NN) - values of pairs of digits (up to 3 main and 1 auxiliary):
starting with 0
01
van van
02
harlequin harlequin
03
bicolour bicolour
04
mitted / white point with white marks for color points
05
snowshoe snow-shu
09
little white spots white spot 1-2 cm marriage for LH
starting with 1
11
shaded shaded (1/4 in the upper part of the vole)
12
tipped, shel veiled (1/8 of the upper part of the crown)
starting with 2
21
tabby, agouti stripedness, agouti factor
22
blotched, marble, marble
23
mackerel, tiger tiger color
24
spotted spotted color
25
ticked ticked, or abyssinian color
starting with 3
31
burmese color burmese color
32
tonkinese color tonkinese color
33
himalayan (siam) color Himalayan or Siamese color
34
singapura color singapore color
35
abyssinian color abyssinian color, ticking
starting with 5 (tail length)
51
rumpy tailless
52
rumpy riser tail residue - 1-2 vertebra
53
stumpy bean - 7-13 cm of the folded tail
54
longy long / normal tail
starting with 6 (eye color)
61
blue blue
62
yellow, golden yellow, orange, golden, etc.
63
oddeyed disagreement
64
green green
65
Burmese eye color of Burmese cats
66
tonkinese the color of the eyes of the Tonkin cats
67
himalayan or siam the color of the eyes of Himalayan and Siamese cats
starting with 7 (ear set)
71
straight ears straight (straight ears)
72
curled ears curls (curled back)
73
folded ears fold (forward)
Perhaps, none of the feline genes does not look so modest - and does not give such a variety of its manifestations. In a sense, the gene Agouti (Agouti) is still a mystery for geneticists. In the previous article, we considered the colors of cats, in which the pigment is uniformly deposited throughout the hair. This means that these animals have two recessive gene alleles Agouti – aa. But in the dominant allele of the same gene (it is also called agouti factor - A) The main function is to work with "biological clocks", adjusting the alternation in the deposition of black (eumelanin) and yellow pigment. The hair eventually turns out to be colored zoned, with concentric rings (this is called ticking), necessarily with a light (yellow or mixed, gray) base and a dark tip. Why do I prefer the expression "light" and "dark"? Yes, because the black pigment can act in its "oxidized" modifications - brown or cinnamon. In addition, both types of melanin are subject to classic lightening - then the yellow bands will turn into fawn, and black will turn into blue.
The diversity of the colors of cats with agouti-factor, which occurs in combinations with alleles of other genes, is truly enormous. Matrosno-striped "kings" of port warehouses and "queens" of exhibitions in silver "chinchillas" equally carry in their genotype the agouti allele. In some individuals, the manifestation of the agouti factor has been so altered by other genes that the streakiness of their hairs is practically not noticeable. And the sphinxes, for example, do not have hair at all, neither striped, nor any other. But about the presence of the agouti factor you can guess on the mirror of the nose - it is pink or brick with a dark stroke. The same dark color "summed up" the eyes. And on the back of the ear there is a "wild spot" - a light patch in the form of a thumbprint (human, of course, not a cat's).
But in addition to combinations with other genes, the manifestations of the agouti factor in themselves are infinitely diverse: in some cats strips on the hair can barely count three, others have a number of up to seven! Some have black stripes wide, yellow narrow ones, or vice versa. Nevertheless, despite this diversity, the felinologists still adhere to the version that there are only two agouti alleles: A\u003e a. Meanwhile, in other animals, dogs, for example, or mice, agouti are whole series of alleles. There is even an opinion that Agouti is not a simple gene, but a complex gene complex, within which various kinds of recombination can arise. It seems that the list of feline alleles of this gene will have to be expanded.
In felinologic vernacular often and incorrectly "agouti" is called any cat with the coloring of a tabby. Indeed, most tabbies are agouti, but not all animals with agouti-factor are necessarily tabby. Chinchillas, for example, have a dominant agouti allele, but certainly not a tabby. On the other hand, red cats and cats, by the nature of doubtless tabby, with a pattern, have no agouti factor. For the reason that they do not have a black pigment, only intense and light "yellow" zones alternate in their hair, but this process is not controlled at all agouti gene.
Tabby is most often defined as "cats with a pattern." But it would be more correct to say that the gene Tabby is responsible for the formation of the picture. The action of this gene is fully manifested only in the presence of ticking, that is agouti factor, although this does not mean that in cats with a genotype aa - neaguchi - there is no gene Tabby. Its manifestation can sometimes be seen in the form of "residual", "shadow" and "ghost" drawings in monochromatic dyed and especially smoky cats. The most common pattern among Russian aboriginal cats is the tiger, or mackerel. For such cats, vertical bands on the trunk are combined with common elements for all the patterned colors: the "M" mark on the forehead, the rings on the chest, the curls on the cheeks, two rows of double spots along the abdomen and the band on the tail and legs. Such a pattern is determined by the dominant allele T.
And here we have a marble color of cats that is common in the UK, including, in addition to the common tabby elements, a "butterfly" on the shoulders, two strips along the back and streaks on the sides, is defined by a recessive allele tb. Marble cats, naturally, are homozygous - tbtb. The most mysterious figure for geneticists was spotted color (spotted tabby). In its most complete expression it consists of smooth, uniform in size round or oval spots on the sides (of course, in combination with common elements for all figures). True, such ideal representatives of spotted cats are rare. More often there are various transitional degrees between tiger and spotted colors - from bands torn in several places to elongated spots. Known and such individuals, in which two or three bands on the front of the body are combined with spots on the back. When crossing the same spotted cats always give kittens only with the same pattern and never - tiger. Unknown cases of the appearance of spotted kittens in couples of marble color are unknown. It would seem that the spotted pattern should be determined by an allele of the same series of tabby, inherited in relation to T recessive or, more likely, codominantly (if we take into account the intermediate degrees of manifestation) and dominantly with respect to tb, and denoted as something like Tsp (this opinion is shared by many famous felinologists, for example, J.-P. Maas). The series looks like this:
T\u003e or = Tsp\u003e tsp (red highlighted hypothetical alleles)
But! Usually, the presence of all degrees of transition between the two manifestations of a feature indicates a polygenic, and not a monogenic, inheritance. Moreover, hundreds of cats with intermediate tiger-spotted colors have units with a torn marble pattern. What, spotty color is then dominant in relation to marble, then inherited in an intermediate way with respect to it? The explanation of this phenomenon may be that Tabby is a complex, extended locus, within which the exchange of genetic material can not be excluded (intragenic recombination). The other, and most likely hypothesis about the origin of spotted colors, suggests that tears in the tiger and marble colors and, as an extreme form of this phenomenon, spotting are caused by the action of the genes of another (other) locus most likely in clutch with the tabby locus (that is, on one and the same chromosome). If you accept this version, for now you can denote it as (Tsp). Then, the intensive expression of the sign is denoted as (Tsp) +, the absence of the expression - as (Tsp) -.
Although the tabby is defined as "cats with a picture," one of the most prominent tabby representatives is an Abyssinian cat. At this color there is no pattern on the body, legs and tail, and only slightly preserved "M" on the forehead and curls on the cheeks. It is believed that the Abyssinian color is determined by the most dominant allele of the same series - Ta, and the series has the form Ta\u003e T\u003e or = Tsp\u003e tsp. However, it is difficult to speak of complete dominance - heterozygotes for Ta, and occasionally homozygotes TaTa have the residual elements of the picture: "necklaces" on the chest, weak stripes on the legs and a mark in the shape of the letter "M" on the forehead. In general, it is possible that the allele of the Abyssinian color, believed to be unshakable, too, may soon undergo revision ...
In natural populations (including in Russia) there are cats with pronounced ticking, but practically without a pattern. Unlike the Abyssinians, they retain all the common elements of the picture, but they do not have a back or side, but are simply covered with ticked hair. Sometimes weak, barely discernible traces of a spotted or brindle pattern are seen through the body. Such tabby most in India, Sri Lanka, in Southeast Asia. Originally, the felinologists did not notice them, and when they noticed they began to be called "ticked tabby" or even "general tabby" ( common tabby) and considered as representatives of the same Abyssinian color - TaTa or heterozygote TTa. However, when such heterozygotes were crossed, the same "common tabby" was obtained, and neither tiger nor authentic Abyssinian colors were fused. Gradually discovered ticked tabby among the thoroughbred animals - especially when they began to cross chinchillas with cats of other colors (but not Abyssinian) ...
Chinchillas and shaded colors also belong to the agouti group, but their hair is tipped instead - they are painted only on the tips (1/8 in chinchillas, 1/3 in shaded ones). The unpaintedness of the lower part of the hair is explained by the action of the dominant allele of the same inhibitor gene I, which was discussed in. Only against the background of the genotype of neaguchi - aa - this allele will lead to the development of smoky color. But against the background of the dominant agouti factor, the action of the inhibitory allele affects differently: either silver tabby (in which the pattern is on a silvery background) or chinchillas and shaded (with tipping) appear. Genetically, these two groups of "silver agouti" should somehow differ. There were many theories, and in the penultimate one, the geneticist J. Jerome suggested that all chinchillas carry the Ta allele. Therefore, they say, they do not show a picture. But in childhood very many chinchillas and especially shaded cats show this pattern - they have shadow spots or stripes! And only with age it disappears. And when crossing, they often give themselves similar, and do not split, as if they were heterozygotes, say TTa. This "behavior" of chinchillas and the existence of "common tabby" required a new theory, postulating the existence of a different from Tabby gene, "washing off the pattern."
Its presence was wittily proven by breeder K. Johnson in such a series of crosses. From the silver-shaded cat and marble cat were obtained shaded kittens, having a pattern on the legs, tail, neck and without a picture or with a "shadowy" disappearing with age, a pattern on the body (perhaps more correctly they are called silver-ticked). Consequently, the allele that "removes" the pattern from the body of the animal must be not completely dominant, but partly dominant or codominant. This can also be attributed to the Abyssinian allele Ta. But in the offspring of the returnable crossing - a marble cat with its shaded daughter - there were three variants of descendants - marble, shaded (with children's pattern) and ... tiger kittens. From this distribution it followed that in the genotypes of parents there were three alleles - marble, tiger and "ticked tabby." The marble cat, naturally, in this locus carries two recessive alleles of marble color - tbtb, and the daughter cat should be the bearer of all three types of tabby color (recessive marble tb, "ticked" and brindle T). But these three alleles can not be in the same Tabby gene! Alleles, then one animal in the locus is two, not three! The third allele must refer to another locus, not Tabby and not to be identical with Ta.
K. Johnson proposed to name this new gene Unpatterned (with a genetic symbol U). Allele U determines not the frequency of the bands on the hair, but the lack of a pattern on the body, that is no difference in the intensity of hair dyeing in different parts of the body.
The action of this allele masks the manifestation of the locus alleles Tabby. In homozygous form, it hides their effect almost completely (except for the weak signs of the pattern on the legs and tail). K. Johnson believes this allele to be monogenic, U\u003e u . In heterozygotes Uu usually manifested "shadow" pattern on the body and clear on the legs and tail. Accordingly, with the recessive genotype of animals ( uu) the type of pattern that is laid down by the alleles of the tabby locus will manifest itself. This theory of genetics of "common tabby" is very plausible (although so far, just in case, the symbols are marked in red). For simplicity of calculations it is possible to use these symbols. True, judging by the variety of manifestations, it is possible that we are dealing with a polygenically determined sign of "erasing a picture" and it would be more correct to denote it (u), but this would make our calculations more difficult. Let's try to write a shortened genetic color formulas for silver chinchilla and silver-marble tabby.
Silver Marble: A - (agouti, the dash means that the state of the second allele is unknown to us or in this case it is not important - only the dominant allele appears externally) I - (silver, as we recall, it can also be denoted by symbols Sv -Silvering or Bl - Bleacher, it's just the names introduced by different researchers). Further, since the picture is fully expressed - uu and since it is marble - tbtb. Chinchilla: A-I- UU (since the picture is not expressed): but does she have a tabby gene? The gene is there, only its manifestations we do not see. In order not to forget about its availability, it can be written as follows: [T] - perhaps it will be needed in further calculations.
But chinchillas and tabbies are not only silvery, but also golden. Beyond this "gold" is not only "chasing" breeders, its nature has long been fooled by geneticists and felinologists. differ from silvery in that the lower part of the hair is not unpainted (white), but it is only painted with a yellow pigment (apricot). However, this is ideal. Often there are individuals with an undercoat and a radical zone of mixed hair, gray (felinologists still argue, consider such animals as gold with a defect in color or do not count gold at all). From such a predominance of yellow pigment, the whole cat looks warmly colored, even the black color of the tip of the tail in chinchillas and the pattern in the tabby often looks brown. It looks - genetically it is black.
It is obvious that the gene responsible for the formation of a wide yellow (apricot) zone in the base of the hair should also be an inhibitor, but, unlike I, suppress the deposition on the hair of not both pigments, but only black (and its derivatives). This hypothetical gene received two names - Eraser, a genetic symbol Er, or Wide-band, Wb (you can use any). By the way, the last, the so-called " broad-band gene", occurs in rodents, and is indeed a partial inhibitor of the black pigment. Wb (or Er) - whatever, forming a wide yellow band at the base of the hair, is considered to be dominant in relation to its "normal, recessive partner." It would be more correct, however, to consider the inheritance of the golden strip as intermediate - it is such "intermediate" individuals that are born when knitting black and gold tabby (and the undercoat is always gray!) Finally, recently there was another candidate for the role of black pigment inhibitor - allele Ay from the gene series Agouti, or, as it is called, allele of the golden agouti (in mice) or sable color (in dogs). Allele Ay dominates over A, however, not completely, and its effect leads to the formation of the yellow-golden lower zone of the hair - with its black end. In other words, the effect of all three candidates on the role of golden color genes is extremely similar. Unlike the gene I they do not show themselves in individuals with the genotype of neaguchi - aa, except that the color of these latter can become more "warm".
The mystery is the inheritance of the yellow (apricot) undercoat and the root zone of the hair. It clearly does not have a dominant character, and, rather than simply recessive, it can be called polygenic. Conventionally, as long as the genetic basis is unknown, it would be more convenient to designate it as (gol). There is one more group of polygenes in the composition of the golden color (it occurs in any other colors, but not so noticeable in them) - it is a polygen of Rufism, that is, the intensity of apricot color (the amount of yellow pigment, in other words). It can be designated as (ruf). More rufoid cats are more vivid, juicy apricot tones, less ruffoid cats have a pale, rather peachy, yellowish part of the hair.
Let's try to record in two ways the genotype of the golden tiger tabby with a warm, not gray, undercoat, but a pale, insufficiently juicy tone as a whole. So: A - (agouti, naturally), ii (the inhibitor gene of melanin in it is represented only by two recessive alleles - that is why it is impossible to get "silver" from "gold", but on the contrary - it is possible). Further, uu (the figure is expressed), T - (tiger, the state of the second allele is now unknown to us) Wb Wb (it is clearly golden, hence homozygous), (gol) + (the undercoat is not gray), (ruf) - (the general tone is paler). The second option:
Аy Аy (golden agouti), ii, uu, T -, (gol) + and (ruf) -.
In principle, you can use any of the two proposed options.
So far we have written abbreviated color formulas, but we must not forget that the animal has all the genes of color, and not just those that interest us at the moment. Therefore, I strongly advise you to write the whole formula. For example, we add the formula of the blue-cream smoky cat from: to ww ss dd C - Bb Oo Ii we add: aa (nonaguti), [ T] (we do not see the state of the tabby locus, but it may be possible to restore it by progeny), [ U] (the same applies to the gene U), [Wb] (also). As for the modifier polygons, it makes sense to record them only if you are purposefully working in a nursery with the appropriate colors.
And now we add the formula for the silver-marble cat:
A - I - uu tbtb. We did not specify whether it was black-silver, or, say, chocolate-silvery. Suppose the second. His mother had a power-tabby point, his father was lilac smoky. It turns out: ww ss Dd (the cat is colored intensely, but the father could not help passing on the allele of clarification), Ccs (the recessive allele of colorpoint passed to him from his mother), bb oY Aa (recessive allele neaguchi - from the father), Ii (since the mother did not carry the dominant allele of the inhibitor, although - please note! - on colorpoints, its presence can be difficult to see) uu tbtb(on the silver cat you do not see "gold").
Of course, in practice one rarely has to deal with such complete formulas. But it is necessary to understand from what and how they add up, so as to use their fragments as needed - to calculate the probability of obtaining the desired colors.
Inna Shustrova, Candidate of Biological Sciences
The color of the tabby in cats is the color of the wild type, that is, the one that was characteristic of cats in the wild, even before their domestication. This color is characterized by a strictly defined pattern of streaks and spots on a lighter background, and with the color of the tabby, each hair of the wool is also colored non-uniformly, and has alternating light and dark strips (this phenomenon is called ticking (a variant of a writing - ticking) or ticking.
The color of the tabby is controlled by a gene that is called Tabby (T) and is located on the chromosome 1B (autosome). Gene T - unique, exceptional gene, available from all mammals only in felines. This gene has three alleles, each of which determines one of the tabby phenotypes (there are four total of the tabby phenotypes).
- Allele Т m (variants of designation - Т, Мс) is responsible for the most widespread striped or brindle color (in the English-language literature called mackerel - mackerel), in which bands are observed on the cat's body.
- The allele T b (the designation of tb) c causes a marble or classic color (classic or blotched), in which the dark coat is located in characteristic spots.
- Allele T a controls the phenotype, when the ticked hair is evenly distributed throughout the body, and the pattern is not observed. This color is called Abyssinian, as well as ticked or agouti (Abyssinian, ticked, agouti)
The fourth tabby phenotype is spotted, where spots are visible instead of the bands on the cat's body. A special allele that controls this color was not found. It is assumed that it is controlled by the tiger mascot allele Tm and a set of small-effect polygons, that is, it has polygenic inheritance.
The Abyssinian allele dominates the tiger, and the latter, in turn, over the marble (dominance series Ta\u003e Tm\u003e Tb).
Interesting fact: gene T, that is, one of its alleles, has all the cats without exception. In other words, each cat, regardless of the color, "in some respects a little tabby", namely it bears the defining tabby gene. Why do not all cats look like a tabby?
The thing is that there is another gene directly related to the tabby pattern. This gene is called agouti (Agouti, A) and controls the ticking of the wool. Tabby is definitely a ticked color, without ticking the tabby literally can not exist. The dominant allele of the A gene of the Agouti just determines the ticking. If there is no ticking, then there is an A allele, then there is no tabby pattern. But the recessive allele (a) of gene A is called non-agouti and causes the absence of ticking. Since there is no ticking, then there is no tabby! Therefore, in the allele of non-agouti, aa is always monophonic. Speaking scientifically, allele a in the homozygous state epistatically affects the gene T, completely blocking its function.
However, there is someone stronger for every strong man! Coupled with the sex (located on the X chromosome), the red (red) color of the coat O does not obey the non-agouti allele, but, on the contrary, suppresses its action. As a result of this epistatic interaction of genes, red cats and cats always have a tabby pattern.
All the basic colors characteristic of black color (and controlled by the alleles of gene B), give a tabby pattern. The table shows which colors and patterns are formed in a cat that carries specific color genes in combination with the agouti and tabby genes. The intensity of the undercoat color of the tabby pattern itself is determined by the polygens of the small effect.
Tortoiseshell cats can also have a tabby pattern. In tortoiseshell tabby, which is called torby, from the English names tortoise and tabby (torbie = tortie + tabby), the tabby pattern appears on both red and black areas. Color-point color cats can also have a tabby pattern on the pigmented areas of the coat.
Scientific research conducted in 2011 was devoted to the study of the molecular basis of the tabby color gene. The locus responsible for the color of the tabby and mapped on chromosome 1B was named Taqpep. The results of the studies suggest that the gene controlling tabby is involved in the functioning of the immune system of cats. The lead author of this work, Stephen O'Brien, also participated in the decoding (sequencing) of the cat genome in 2007. Now he moved from the USA to Russia, where he manages the Dobzhansky Center for Genomic Bioinformatics in St. Petersburg and plans, in particular, continue studying the relationship between tabby and immunity. "Tabby is not just a set of stripes and spots, it plays a more important role in the body of cats", says Steven O'Brien.
| Agouti (A-) | Non-agouti (aa) | |||||
| Ticked ("Abyssinian") | Striped | Marble | Ticked | Striped | Marble | |
| T a | T m | T b | T a | T m | T b | |
| The black (B-D-) | Brown ticked tabby | Brown striped tabby | Brown marble tabby | Solid black | ||
| Blue (B-dd) | Blue ticked tabby | Blue Striped Tabby | Blue marble tabby | Solid blue | ||
| Chocolate (ddB-) | Chocolate ticked tabby | Chocolate striped tabby | Chocolate marble tabby | Monochrome chocolate | ||
| Purple (bbdd) | Purple ticked tabby | Purple Striped Tabby | Purple marble tabby | Monochrome chocolate | ||
| Cinnamon (b 1 b 1 D-) | Cinnamon ticked tabby | Cinnamon Tabby Tabby | Cinnamon Marble Tabby | Monochrome cinnamon | ||
| Faun (b 1 b 1 dd) | Fawn Tiki Tabby | Fawn Tabby Tabby | Fawn of marble tabby | The monophonic faun | ||
| Red is an exception to the rule | ||||||
| Red (D-O (O)) | Red ticked tabby | Red striped tabby | Red marble tabby | Same as in the case of agouti | ||
| Cream (ddO (O)) | Cream ticked tabby | Cream striped tabby | Cream marble tabby | |||
Other materials of the section "Genetics of cats"
- Genetics of tortoiseshell and trichrome color in cats (Genetics of cats)
- Genetic diseases characteristic of different breeds of cats (Genetics of cats)
- Gregor Mendel (biographical note) (Genetics of cats)
- Mendel's Laws (Genetics of cats)
There are two basic colors of cats - the black and red (redhead). Both colors are formed due to the action of a special pigment, melanin. Melanin is of two kinds: one of them is responsible for black color and is called eumelanin, and the other is responsible for the red color and is called pheomelanin.
Black colors are determined by the following genes:
B (black) - black,
b (brown) - brown,
bl (brown light) - light brown.
Chromosomes are combined in pairs, so cats have two genes of each type. Couple BB defines a black color. Similarly, bb - chocolate color, blbl - Cynamon or sorrel. Gene B "stronger" than genes b and bl, because it is called dominant. A gene b, in turn, is stronger than the gene bl. Therefore, if a cat from one parent has received a dominant gene B, and from the other - a recessive gene b, then its color will be black.
For the color saturation, the dominant gene D (dense) and its recessive "companion" d (diluted). These genes act as follows: BBDD - black cat, BBdd - gray (blue). Since the gene D dominant in relation to d, then the cat BBDd will be black.
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FROM red colors
all in a certain degree similar. There is a dominant gene ABOUT (orange) and recessive about.
GS - ginger cat,
oo - black cat,
OO - cat tortoiseshell color, i.e. black with red spots.
In combination with genes D and d: OODD - bright red (red) cat, OOdd - cream cat.
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The red (red) color is said to be the color, linked to the floor. Genes ABOUT and about are located only on X chromosome. Cats have two X-chromosomes: XX, and cats - one X and one Y-chromosome: XY. Cats, therefore, have only one red-colored gene and can only be black (X oY_) or red (X OY_). Turtle cats are extremely rare - they do not have two chromosomes, but three: XXY. Such cats are barren.
Tabby colors
Ticked wool can form three types of pattern:
- tiger or striped tabby ( mackerel tabby),
- marble tabby classic tabby, blotched tabby),
- spotted tabby ( spotted tabby).
Gene T determines the striped pattern, the gene Tb - Marble. As to which gene is responsible for the spotted tabby pattern, scientists have not come to a consensus. It has been suggested that the spotted pattern is determined by the same gene T, which is striped, and the fact that the strips are "torn" is the result of the influence of polygens. There is also the 4th variant of tabby color: the so-called tabby without stripes. It occurs only in Abyssinian and British cats.
| Striped tabby: | Marble Tabby: | Spotted tabby: |
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Red (red) and cream cats ALWAYS have a tabby pattern. It can hardly be distinguished from cream cats.
Tabby color can be combined with tortoiseshell:
White spotting
The presence of white spots determines the white spot gene or, possibly, a group of genes. The amount of white in color can vary:
- Wang: almost white cat; Only the tail is colored and there are colored marks on the head.
- Harlequin: Painted about 1/5 of the total surface of the cat's body. Separate large spots are located on the back, head and sides. The tail is completely painted.
- Bicolor: about half of the entire body surface is colored.
- Marquis: white is very small: there are white "gloves" and "slippers" on the paws, on the chest a white medallion.
Painted places can be any color: solid red or black, various variations of the tabby pattern, tortoiseshells, etc.
White cats
The white color of a cat is most often determined by the presence of a dominant gene W. This gene blocks the work of other, "color" genes ( AT, T, A, ABOUT etc.). However, these genes are present in any white cat and can appear in the offspring. They are also manifested by the presence of small colored spots on the head of white kittens. By year these specks disappear.
For example, kharkov directory Bb Dd TT aa Ww will be white, and if it instead of a gene W would be his recessive "companion" w (ie not Ww, a ww), it would be a monochromatic black (the presence of genes of marble color T in this case does not affect color because the agouti gene is represented by a recessive allele a).
The white color gene also affects the pigmentation of the eyes and can cause hearing loss. According to another version, this gene does not cause deafness, but turns out to be linked to genes, its causing.
White color can also give the presence of the gene of albinism. Albinos are extremely rare. In albino cats, a light blue or red eye color.
Color-point colors
The cat color of the color point has a light torso and colored points (from the English. point - tip, tip). Points include the ends of the paws, ears, tail, the tip of the muzzle. The gene responsible for coloring the color-point, blocks the action of other genes only partially: these genes manifest themselves in the color of the points. Color points can be any - classic black (force-point), blue, red, cream. Points can have a tabby pattern. In the presence of a white spot gene, a cat with a color-point color may have white spots.
The gene responsible for the color-point color also gives the blue color of the eyes.
Varieties of silvery colors
Smoky, silvery and chinchillous color refer to the group of silvery colors. These colors are determined by the melanin inhibitor gene I. The action of the gene is that it suppresses the production of the coloring substance. Suppression occurs in varying degrees:
- the smoky cats hair white only at the very roots,
- the silver tabby and cats shaded colors about half of the hair is white, and the second half is colored,
- the chinchilla and cameo painted only the very tips (in chinchillas - in black, in cameo - in red).
The main color can be any: black, blue, red, tortoiseshell.
 Black smoke |
 Black Shaded |
 Chinchilla |
 Smokey turtle |
 Red Shaded |
 Cameo |
 Blue-smoky smoky turtle |
 Silver Tabby: Black |
 Silver Tabby: Blue |
 Silver Tabby: wool structure |
*) Smoky or silvery sometimes called purely gray (blue) cats. This is not true. In silvery and smoky cats, the coat at the base must be white.
**) Silvery are the colors with a pattern tabby. The tips of the hair are black or gray (blue). If the basis lies monophonic color black series (without a tabby pattern), red or tortoiseshell color on which the gene acts I, then at the same degree of clarification as in silvery, the result will be called shaded.
***) If the basis is red color and only the very tips of the hair are painted, like the chinchillas, then this color is called a cameo or red chinchilla (Shell-Cameo or red chinchilla). If approximately half of the hair is dyed - a shaded cameo or red shaded (Shaded Cameo or red shaded silver). If almost all hair is colored - red smoke.
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