![]() ![]() Males only carry one copy of the X chromosome, so that means they can only carry one of the alleles, either O or o. The dominant allele ‘O’ codes for orange tones, and the recessive allele ‘o’ codes for non-orange pigmentation (so you default back to black or brown). This is sex-linked and found only on the X chromosome. The other base colour is the co-dominant red gene (O/o). The dominant allele is ‘B’ which codes for black, and the recessive allele is ‘b’ which codes for brown. I’m getting ahead here, so let’s go back to the black dominant base colour gene (B/b). As it’s dominant though, if your cat has it, then it will likely pass it down. I use the word 'guess', because I'm not sure there is a genetic test yet for the I gene in the normal DNA screens? I hope I’m wrong with that, because it's something I'd love to test for, but all of my current DNA tests haven’t included it. If I was to guess, I'd say Henley and Adi are both homozygous I/I for the inhibitor gene, whilst Nico may be heterozygous I/i. The presence of two alleles (I/I) further reduces the "tarnished" colour, which can mean with those two alleles you'll get a stronger, brighter silver and less yellow than just with one copy of the allele. I believe it’s a dominant gene, which means you only need the one allele (I/i) to possess the phenotype. It reduces or eliminates the production of pheomelanin or yellow pigment in the cat's hair. Smoke/silver both come from the "inhibitor" (I/i) gene. Oh and to make it easier (or harder lol) the term "smoke" refers to a solid coat, and "silver" refers to a tabby patterned coat. The white gene actually works by masking over the base colour (I don't know heaps about white itself yet, that is another subject for another day). The silver is different to a solid white colour. So I think that's why everyone loves the the reeeeally high shaded or tipped cats who look almost all white with the the black base nose leather and black 'eye liner'. I think there's a name for the nose leather changing colour, but it's escaped me for now. It still has a black outline, but pink in the centre. This is interesting with Henley, he was born with black nose leather, but as he grew, he lost some of that pigment. If you have a red/cream base colour, they will be pink/light. So if you have a black/blue base colour, the nose/pads will be black/dark. The nose leather and paw pads still correspond to the base colour, no matter how much silver or smoke you have. They are very popular these days, and whilst they’re very striking, I’m not currently gunning for that. Henley actually does have at least one shaded cat in his lines, so I'd be really happy with some high smoke/silvers at any point! Those ones can look almost entirely silver/white. that's when over 4/5ths of the hair shaft are smoked/silver, and only the very tip of the hair has the base colour: black or red. Approx 1/2 of each hair shaft has smoking from the base.įor a little bit of context: The cats who have really high smoke/silver, all the way up to 'shaded' or ‘tipped’ levels. ![]() I’d class her as a medium smoke level (I think ). This means that she is non-agouti (no tabby pattern). She also has more of a 'tarnished' or yellowed colour, compared to both Adi and Henley's white platinum-looking silver/smoke.Īdelaide is a solid black smoke. I would class her as lower colour silver than both Henley and Adelaide. I think he rates in around the medium-high silver range. Henley and Nico are both tabbies (different patterns) but they both also carry the solid/non-agouti gene. They all have the black-based eumelanin colour. However, they each display a different phenotype. You can convert it to a percentage, but I think seeing it visually represented is easier.Īctually, all three, Henley, Nico and Adelaide, are genetically very similar. it shows the colour possibilities of the offspring that and may produce. I’ve worked up some Punnett Squares to calculate the genetic, simple colour profile, and advanced colour profile of each mating. There are a lot of permutations as to what is displayed vs what is carried. "Genotype" refers to what genes the cat actually possesses. "Phenotype" refers to what is physically displayed. It’s hard to know where to start, so I’ll go back to basics. We also did a little on Mendelian Inheritance patterns last semester at uni, and that definitely helped. That’s a decent chunk of time and research, and I feel like I’ve only just begun to understand the tip of the iceberg. I’ve been reading up on this since I chose Henley the day he was born, and he is now just over 2 years old. So this is still a whole new world for me. I welcome any comments/opinions as long as they’re KIND □ I’m still learning and evolving, so please be kind if I haven’t got everything just right. ![]()
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