Genetics and Fur: The Fascinating Reason Tabby Cats Exist

The bone cat color patterns are a determining aspect of the diversity of these animals descending from the family of Felidae. The coat of these species has different shapes: waves, horizontal stripes, brindle, and some form a letter on their forehead.

Several researchers have accepted that studies around the cats are rare Compared to other domestic animals, however, in recent years a large number of articles have been recorded where they begin to describe the processes experienced by felines.

Stanford University scholars Christopher B. Kaelin, Kelly A. McGowan, and Gregory S. Barsh explained why for cats to have a defined coat pattern.

His study “Developmental Genetics of Color Pattern Establishment in the Cat”, was published by the magazine Nature Communication in September 2021 and they explained there that the imprint on the skin is definite since it is about embryos.

The scientists clarified that genes are activated in embryonic skin cells before cats develop hair and the scratches can even be seen under a microscope. According to the review National geographic this represents a discovery never seen before in the feline world.

“Tabby (tabby) markings are evident in developing hair follicles,” the research authors described. To reach this conclusion, the academics studied nearly a thousand embryos that had been rejected by veterinary clinics that sterilize stray cats.

The study of spots in nature has attracted the attention of the scientific world. The Barsh-led team felt that the creation of patterns in the skin of cats is done in two stages.

In the first, skin cells determine whether the “pattern” will be dark or light, and later, hair follicles grow and make the pigments.

American scholars have explained that color patterns involve interactions between pigment cells as in the case of fish.

“More generally, the genetic components of the molecular signature that we have identified for the establishment of the color pattern are potential substrates for natural selection”, they detail in their study, which could be one of the reasons for diversifying the evolution of animals. .cats.

The bone phenotypes like Tabby, Blotched, and Ticked are only a fraction of the pattern diversity that exists in the nature of domestic cats and interspecific hybrids.

Barsh commented for National geographic that it’s common for biology to use the same tools over and over again, so it’s odd to find something different in the most number of situations.

According to Joanna Klein, a journalist for the magazine, Cat fur has long been a fascinating subject of study.even Charles Darwinat the time believed that most deaf cats were white with blue eyes, so it was a hereditary issue.

Despite the fact that at the time of the naturalist he did not have the technology that exists today, his claim turned out to be true due to a genetic problem.

The research team hopes that in the future, their investigations can explain why some animals have stripes and others do not, in addition to identifying how the “patterns” of their fur have evolved.

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