CAT COLOR GENETICS (modified from the website below) http://fanciers.com/other-faqs/color-genetics.

html Domestic cats exhibit a rich variety of coat patterns and colors. The names given to these colors and patterns are increasingly based on genetic theory. This activity, derived from information on the website above attempts to describe the colors and patterns of cats and the names that are given to them. You will answer questions from this information and from your knowledge of Mendelian genetics. 1. Pigmentation The colors in hair, skin, and eyes are caused by the presence of melanin. Melanin is deposited in the hair shafts in the form of microscopic granules which vary in shape, size, and arrangement, giving a variety of colors. There are two chemically different kinds of melanin: eumelanin and phaeomelanin. Eumelanin granules are thought to be spherical in shape and absorb almost all light, giving black pigmentation. Phaeomelanin granules are thought to be elongated "footballs" in shape, and reflect light in the redorange-yellow range. (see figure). Several epistaticgenes can cause variation in the density of the the melanin granules, so other colors can be produced. The most variation is found in the black-based (eumelanistic) colors. Table 1 lists commonly accepted names for the basic colors, by genotype: Mutations of the gene for Black give rise to Chocolate (b-) and Cinnamon (b-). These colors are thought to be due to a smaller number of eumelanin granules in the hair shaft. These are alleles at the (B) locus; Chocolate (bb) is recessive to Black, and Cinnamon (bb) is recessive to Chocolate. A mutation of the gene for Dense coloration produces Blue, Lilac, and Fawn. These colors are due to clustering of the particles of pigment in the hair shaft. This is called dilution or Maltesing. Blue is the dilute form of Black; it is commonly seen as various shades of gray. Lilac is the dilute form of Chocolate; it is described as light gray. Fawn is the dilute form of Cinnamon; it is described as caramel color. Dilution is a mutation at the (D) locus; dilution is recessive to dense coloration. Table 1 Color genes (order of dominance) Orange (O_, D_) Black (B _, D_) Chocolate (bb, D_) Cinnamon (bb, D_) Dense variations of color Cream (O_, dd) Blue (B_, dd) Lilac (bb, dd) Fawn (bb, dd)

In comparison, the red-based (phaeomelanistic) colors have much less variation. Red is usually described as orange,but some red cats have rather pale pigmentation and so people may describe them as yellow. Cream is the dilute form of Red. The symbol for the gene for Red/Cream is (O); Black acts recessive to Red, ie a single dominant red allele will mask the black phenotypes.

The Red gene (O) is carried on the X chromosome; for this reason it is sex-linked. Males normally only have one X chromosome and so if a male carries the Red gene at all, he will be Red. Females have two X chromosomes; if both X chromosomes carry the Red gene, then the cat will be Red. However, many females carry the Red gene on only one chromosome, which allows the black-based pigmentation to show through in patches. This combination of red and black is called Tortoiseshell or Calico. A typical Calico (Tortoiseshell) is a patchwork of black and orange, usually in a random pattern. Some "Torties" have large patches of orange, others are mostly black. The Tortoiseshell can be modified by dilution, which gives a patchwork of blue and cream rather than black and orange. Such dilute Torties are usually called Blue-Cream. Finally, the black patches of a Tortie may actually be any of the black-based colors, so you may see a Chocolate Tortie or a Cinnamon Tortie, and, if dilution is also present, a Lilac-Cream Tortie or a Fawn-Cream Tortie. 2. Ticking and Tabby Patterns All of the foregoing discussion has described solid colors. More cats have ticked fur than solid color, and in most of them, the ticked fur alternates with the solid color in some sort of pattern, which is called tabbying. First, ticking is the result of the agouti gene (A) which causes the individual hairs to have bands of light and heavy pigmentation. The agouti gene allows full pigmentation when the hair starts to grow, then slows down the synthesis of pigment for a while, and then turns it on for a while. As the hair approaches its normal length and stops growing, pigment synthesis stops. The result is a hair shaft that has dense pigment at the tip, then a band of yellow to orange, then a band of dense pigment, fading to yellow to orange at the root. The agouti band can be seen in both the eumelanistic (black-based) and phaeomelanistic (red-based) colors. In both cases, the agouti band marks the period where the production of melanin has slowed down. It is fairly well accepted that the color in the agouti band of a eumelanisticallypigmented hair shaft is still eumelanin, not phaeomelanin, but it is the fact that the granules are sparse and "shredded" that gives them the yellow to orange color. In eumelanistically-pigmented hair shafts, the agouti band is normally a drab yellow-beige color. In particular, the Brown Tabby patterns are genetically Black, but produce a rich brown color in the ticked hairs. The mutation that causes solid color is called non-agouti (a/a), and is recessive. The effect of non-agouti is to suppress the ticking, so the same density of pigment is found all along the hair shaft, except at the root, where it normally begins to fade in any case.

Questions: 1. If a black cat homozygous dominant (BB) is crossed with a cinnamon cat (bb), what are the expected phenotypic ratios of the offspring? 2. If two siblings from the cross above mate, what are the expected phenotypic ratios of their offspring? 3. If a black cat homozygous dominant for black and density (BBDD) is crossed with a fawn cat (bbdd), what are the expected ratios of the offspring? 4. If two siblings from the cross above mate, what are the expected ratios of their offspring? 5. If a black cat (BbDd) is crossed with a blue cat (Bbdd). What percentage of cats are expected to be cinnamon? 6. An orange male cat (OYBB) is crossed with a female orange cat (OOBB). What are the expected ratios of the male and female offspring? 7. An orange male cat (OyBb) is crossed with a female black cat (ooBB). What are the expected ratios of the offspring for both males and females? 8. A brown tabby cat (AaBb) is crossed with another brown tabby cat (AaBB). What percentage of offspring would be expected to be brown tabby cats?