Double Champion Foothill Felines Manzanita, showing her almost purr-fect Bengal Cat profile

BASIC GENETICS

Each feline is incredibly unique, as we all know. Yet scientists believe that each and every member of the "cat" family ... from lion to cheetah to leopard to domestic housecat ... are all derived from the same mammal, which appeared on earth hundreds of thousands of years ago. Yet how can a tiny Devon Rex or Singapura be so closely related to the huge Maine Coon; or the long-haired cats such as Persians and Himalayans to the hairless Sphinx; or the deep ebony colored Bombay to the almost translucent white-colored Turkish Angora? The answer lies in genetics, as the variety and beauty to be found in domestic and wild cats is something we are incapable of measuring…and this does not even take into consideration the results of environment and genetics on the individual personalities!

Basically, the study of genetics is the fascinating study of the evolution of life itself, on a much smaller scale. The method of passing the genetic code of the parents to the next generation through the "germ" cells (ova in females and sperm in males), is one of the most awesome and incredibly beautiful processes in nature.

Long, irregular threads of genetic material called chromosomes are found within the nucleus of a cell, and they are arranged in pairs. Cats have 19 pairs of chromosomes; people have 23 pairs of chromosomes. For cats, it is these 38 chromosomes which make up the unique, individual "blueprint" for that animal. The chromosomes are covered with hundreds of thousands to millions of light and dark colored bands which are the actual genetic codes, called genes. Each gene controls a single feature or a group of features in the makeup of an individual. Even this concept becomes more complicated as many of the genes interact with other genes! A single feature of an individual may be controlled by many different genes, which makes "mapping" of the genes very difficult, and for cats, only a few major genes have been mapped out to date. Ongoing research by dedicated scientists looking for answers and cures to some of the most basic and deadly of the feline diseases (such as FIP, FeLV and HCM, just to name a few), is uncovering more answers to this genetic mapping, but the process is slow and takes a lot of time.

One single molecule of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) runs the entire length of each chromosome, and what makes DNA so successful in genetically reproducing is the actual amino acids and the order of them within each gene. There are four different amino acids that are arranged in groups of three, forming a 64-letter alphabet, which is used to compose "words" of varying length (each of which is a gene). Each gene controls the development of a specific characteristic of that particular life form. No two life forms contain the exact same blueprint of DNA, and there are an infinite number of possible genes, making it highly likely that any number of possible life forms have not even begun yet! While some genes control specific color traits, other genes control the "mapping" of specific traits and how they are expressed physically in an individual life form.

When a cell has absorbed enough of the various amino acids and other compounds necessary to sustain itself, it makes another cell by dividing, which is called "mitosis", and is fundamental to life. Since the genetic coding is carried in the DNA through the various combinations of the 64 letter alphabet, the actual blueprint instructions for a "cat" may be considered to consist of two sets of 19 "books", one set from each parent, and each book millions of words in length. Did you know that there are far more possible instructions from DNA in one single chromosome than there are atoms in the known universe???

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GENETIC EXAMPLE (WHITE CAT)

Let's look at an example using the gene for the color "white". A single gene is a group of instructions of an indeterminate length, and somewhere within all those instructions is the code which will determine whether or not the cat is white or non-white. Since a cat receives two sets of instructions (one from each parent), how is it determined what will happen? Each gene has at least one and sometimes more "alleles" which will determine the overall effect. It is the "allele" which determines whether a trait is dominant or recessive. In the case of the white cat, the "make the fur white" allele, "W" is dominant, while the "make the fur non-white" allele, "w", is recessive. As a result, the fur of this particular cat may be white or non-white only. To further illustrate this, a cat has two and only two white genes. Since each white gene (for purposes of example) consists of one of two alleles, "W" or "w", a cat may have one of four possible genetic codes (called karyotypes) for white: "WW", "Ww", "wW", and "ww". Since "W" is dominant to "w", any code containing "W" ("WW", "Ww", "wW") willl produce white cats, while "ww" will always produce a non-white cat.

The double-dominant "WW" white cat has only white alleles in its white genes. It is called "homozygous", which means "same-celled" for white, and will produce only white off-spring, REGARDLESS OF THE KARYOTYPE OF ITS MATE.

The single-dominant "Ww" or "wW" white cat has one of each allele in its white genes. It is called "heterozygous", which means "different-celled" for white, and may or may not produce white off-spring, DEPENDING UPON THE KARYOTYPE OF ITS MATE.

The recessive "ww" non-white cat has only non-white alleles in its white genes. It is called "homozygous" for NON-white, and may or may not product white off-spring, DEPENDING UPON THE KARYOTYPE OF ITS MATE.

If we take a look at the possible outcomes for the white gene for 16 different matings, there will be sixty-four possible combinations of off-spring, yet some patterns clearly emerge. Of the 64 possible off-spring, 16 (or exactly one fourth) will be homozygous for white "WW"; 32 (or exactly one half) will be heterozygous for white "Ww" or "wW", and the last 16 (or exactly one quarter) will be homozygous for NON-white "ww". Since homozygous white and heterozygous white will both produce white cats, three fourths of these "matings" will produce white cats, and only one fourth will produce non-white cats. This 3:1 ratio is known as the Mendelian ratio, named after the father of the science of genetics, Gregor Johann Mendel.

Taking this even further with our same example, we can conclude that if a homozygous white cat mates, all the kittens will be white. If two homozygous white cats mate, all their kittens will be homozygous white. If a homozygous white cat mates with a heterozygous white cat, there will be both homozygous white and heterozygous white kittens in a 1:1 ratio. If a homozygous white cat mates with a homozygous non-white cat, all the kittens will be heterozygous white. Thus, as we stated above, a homozygous white cat can ONLY produce white off-spring, REGARDLESS of the karyotype of its mate, and is said to be TRUE BREEDING for white.

If two heterozygous white cats mate, there will be homozygous white, heterozygous white and homozygous non-white kittens in a ratio of 1:2:1. The ratio of white to non-white off-spring is the Mendelian ratio of 3:1. If a heterozygous white cat mates with a homozygous non-white cat, there will be both heterozygous white and homozygous non-white kittens in a 1:1 ratio.

If two homozygous non-white cats mate, ALL OFF-SPRING WILL BE HOMOZYGOUS NON-WHITE, and we can conclude that when they are co-bred, homozygous non-white cats are therefore TRUE BREEDING for non-white.

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GENOTYPE AND PHENOTYPE

You've probably heard the terms "genotype" and "phenotype". Geneticists differentiate between what a cat is genetically (genotype) versus what it looks like (phenotype). A homozygous white cat has a white genotype and a white phenotype; however, a heterozygous white cat as both a white and a non-white genotype, but is considered only a white phenotype. The Mendelian patterning is the basic rule of genetics, but it is important to remember that when breeding, we are dealing with MORE THAN ONE GENE from each parent! The number of possible off-spring combinations is two to the power of the number of genes…there are literally hundreds of millions of genes for one cat!!

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MALE AND FEMALE

In the 19 pairs of chromosomes within a cat that we discussed earlier, are chromosomes numbered 1 through 18, plus "X" and "Y". It is the "X" and "Y" chromosome that determine the sex of the kittens. A female cat has two "X" chromosomes, "XX", while the male cat has one "X" and one "Y" chromosome "XY" so if we follow the Mendelian pattern through, we see that the female can only pass the "X" chromosome to her kittens, so the sex of the kitten is determined by the male, who can pass the "X" chromosome for a girl, or the "Y" chromosome for a boy. But, even that is not that simple!! The "X" chromosome is longer than the "Y" chromosome, and this is to carry the extra instructions for females AND some other things such as the gene for orange fur! These characteristics are said to be "sex-related" and do operate differently in males and females. It is possible for females to have and extra "X" chromosome, and be "XXX"; these are called "super-females" and may indeed have extremely strong maternal instincts, refusing to stop nursing their young or leave their young. And, males may have an extra "Y" chromosome, and be "XYy" or "Xyy", and they are called "super-males" and may exhibit unusually aggressive behavior. There are also cases where the animal is "XXO" or "XYO", and these cats look identical to normal cats except that they receive their sex and sex-linked characteristics from only one parent.

New studies by scientists have revealed even more information. By studying the development of fetuses in utero, scientists have discovered that even during their time in the womb, male fetuses start to produce and release the male hormone testosterone from their bodies into the protective amniotic fluid surrounding them. Because of the unique way that cat embryos implant themselves into the lining of the mother's uterus, this amniotic fluid is shared by the developing littermates. Indeed, a female cat embryo implanted between two male embryos, is now believed by some scientists to absorb a higher amount of this male hormone while in utero, which may have the potential for this female to grow up having a slightly more aggressive nature, and even perhaps to not have the strongest of maternal instincts.

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MUTATIONS

The immediate ancestor of our domestic cats today, the African Wildcat (felis lybica), has genes we consider to be "wild", and these genes are the basic genetic blueprint of ALL cats. It's quite obvious that numerous genetic changes have taken place as the cat has evolved over time, and these changes are called "mutations". Mutations are the very essence of a breeding program (which is simply evolution guided by mankind). It is, after all, through mutation, which is an imperfect replication or joining of the DNA, that the survival of the fittest takes place. This is how the cheetah (as one example) evolved to become the fastest mammal on earth, with the ability to reach speeds of over 70 miles per hour for short bursts. Without such genetic changes taking place causing the legs and spine of the cheetah fetus to grow significantly and proportionately longer, and the lungs to grow substantially larger with greater oxygen capacity, the cheetah could not survive in its habitat without that specific ability to run down its prey. But how do we know if a mutation is good or bad? Time and nature are usually the determining factors of the "success" of a mutation. Here's another example.

Let's look at a species of striped cat living on the plains, who has mutated kittens who now have the spotted pattern (the stripes have broken up in this mutation example). The spots don't blend as well as the stripes with the long shadows and colors of the grasses, so the kittens do not survive as their predators can see them more easily with their spotted coats. This is a detrimental mutation. Now, let's assume that the same species of cat is living in woodlands, and has kittens with the same mutation creating spotted coats. In this case, the spots blend better with the dapple of light and shadow playing through the trees, so the kittens survive better as their predators are not able to see them as easily. They mature, have more kittens with spotted coats, and the mutation is considered to be beneficial. Interestingly, this also holds true with lions; lion cubs are born with spots to help camoflauge them from predators. The rare but beautiful white lion has a much smaller chance of survival with its bright white color providing no camoflauge at all.

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NUVET PLUS FELINE SUPPLEMENT

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BODY CONFORMATION GENES

These genes affect the ears, tail and feet. There are thousands of body conformation genes, but only a few have been mapped, and these are:

"Scottish Fold gene": normal or folded ears. The wild allele, "fd", is recessive and produces normal ears. The mutation, "Fd", is dominant and produces the cap-like folded ears of the Scottish Fold breed. This mutant gene is crippling when homozygous.

"Japanese Bobtail gene": normal or short tail. The wild allele, "Jb", is dominant and produces normal length tails. The mutation, "jb", is recessive and produces the short tail of the Japanese Bobtail breed. This mutation, unlike the Manx mutation, is not crippling and does not cause deformation of the spine.

"The Manx gene": normal or missing tail. The wild allele, "m", is recessive and produces normal length tails and proper spinal conformation. The mutation, "M", is dominant and produces the missing tail and shortened spine of the Manx. This mutation is lethal when homozygous, and often crippling when heterozygous, resulting in chronic constipation, spinal bifida, imperforate anus, or incontinence.

"The polydactyl gene": normal number or extra toes. Ernest Hemingway's cats made this gene famous! The wild allele, "pd", is recessive and produces the normal number of toes. The mutation, "Pd", is dominant and produces extra toes, particularly upon the front paws.

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COAT CONFORMATION GENES

These genes affect such things as the length and texture of the coat.

"The Sphinx gene": hairy or hairless coat. The wild allele, "Hr", is dominant and produces a normal hairy coat. The mutation, "hr", is recessive and produces the hairless (or nearly hairless) coat of the Sphinx breed.

"The Long Haired gene": short or long coat. The wild allele, "L", is dominant and produces the normal short-haired coat. The mutation, "l", is recessive and produces the long-haired coat of the Persians, Angoras, Maine Coons, and others.

"The Cornish Rex gene": straight or curly coat. The wild allele, "R", is dominant and produces a normal, straight-haired coat. The mutation, "r", is recessive and produces the very short, curly coat, without guard hairs, of the Cornish Rex.

"The Devon Rex gene": straight or curly coat. The wild allele, "Re", is dominant and produces a normal, straight-haired coat. The mutation, "re", is recessive and produces the very short curly coat of the Devon Rex yet also retains the guard hairs in its coat.

"The Oregon Rex gene": straight or curly coat. The wild allele, "Ro", is dominant and produces a normal, straight-haired coat. The mutation, "ro", is recessive, and produces the very short curly coat of the Oregon Rex, also without the guard hairs.

"The American Wirehair gene": soft or bristly coat. The wild allele, "wh", is recessive and produces a normal soft straight-haired coat. The mutation, "Wh", is dominant and produces the short, stiff, wiry coat of the American Wirehair.

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COLOR CONFORMATION GENES

These genes determine the color, pattern, and expression of the coat. The genes fall into three groups; those that control the color; those that control the pattern; and those that control the color expression. Each of these groups contains several differing but interrelated genes.

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THE COLOR GENE

The color gene controls the actual color of the coat and comes in three alleles: black, dark brown, or light brown. This three-level dominance is not at all uncommon: the albinism gene, for example, has five levels! Believe it or not, geneticists are making some fabulous new discoveries linking certain color combinations in felines to specific medical conditions such as obesity -- AND, they are beginning to find linking relationships between the color genes and certain temperament and personality traits!

The black allele, "B", is wild, dominant, and produces a black or black and brown tabby coat, depending upon the presence of the agouti gene. Technically, the black is an almost-black, super-dark brown, as true black is theoretically impossible to achieve!

The dark-brown allele, "b", is mutant, is recessive to black, but dominant to light brown, and reduces black to dark brown.

The light-brown allele, "bl", is mutant, and is recessive to both black and dark brown, and reduces black to a medium brown.

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THE ORANGE-MAKING GENE

The second of the genes controlling coat color is the orange-making gene, which controls the conversion of the coat color into orange and the masking of the agouti gene and comes in 2 alleles: non-orange and orange.

The non-orange allele, "o", is wild and allows full expression of the black or brown colors. The orange allele, "O", is mutant and converts black or brown to orange and masks the effects of the non-agouti mutation of the agouti gene (all orange cats are tabbies).

This is one of those genes that is "sex-linked"; that is, it is carried on the "X" chromosome of the female; therefore, in males there is no homologous pairing, and the single orange-making gene stands alone. As a result there is no dominance effect in males; they are either orange or non-orange. If a male possesses the non-orange allele, "o", all colors (black, dark brown, or light brown), will be expressed. If he possesses the orange allele, "O", all colors will be converted to orange. Since a male has only one orange-making gene, there cannot be a male tortie. (There is an exception…the hermaphrodite, which has the "XXY" genetic structure and is sterile, sometimes having both ovaries and testes, with neither functioning fully.)

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THE COLOR DENSITY GENE

This is the third and last of the genes controlling the coat color, and it controls the uniformity and distribution of the pigment throughout the hair. This gene can be "D", for dense allele; or "d", for dilute allele. The "D" (dense) allele is wild, dominant, and causes pigment to be distributed evenly throughout each hair, making the color dark and pure. A dense coat will be black, dark brown, medium brown, or orange. The dilute allele, "d", is mutant and recessive, and causes the pigment to be separated into microscopic clumps surrounded by translucent unpigmented areas, which will create a blue (grey), tan, beige, or cream coat.

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THE 8 CAT COLORS

All possible expressions of the color, orange-making, and color-density genes produce the eight basic coat colors: black, blue (grey), chestnut or chocolate brown (dark brown), lavender or lilac (tan), cinnamon (medium brown), fawn (beige), red (orange) and cream.

The brown and dilute colors are rarer and hence generally more prized because they are recessives.

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THE ALBINISM GENE

This gene controls the amount of body color and comes in five alleles: full color, "C", Burmese, "cb", Siamese, "cs", blue-eyed albino, "ca", and albino, "c".

The full color allele, "C", is wild, dominant, and produces a full expression of the coat colors. This is sometimes called the non-albino allele.

The Burmese allele, "cb", is mutant, recessive to the full color allele, co-dominant with the Siamese allele, and dominant to the blue-eyed albino and albino alleles. This allele produces a slight albinism, reducing black to very dark brown, called sable in the Burmese breed, and producing green or green-gold eyes. In the Bengal breed, this is the allele responsible for the seal sepia and seal mink (which have the gold to green eyes also) "snow" Bengals.

The Siamese allele, "cs", is mutant, recessive to the full color allele, co-dominant with the Burmese allele, and dominant to the blue-eyed albino and albino alleles. This allele produces a moderate albinism, reducing the basic coat color from black/brown to a light beige with dark brown "points" in the classic Siamese pattern and producing bright blue eyes. This is the allele responsible for the seal lynxpoint (and blue-eyed) "snow" Bengals.

The blue-eyed albino allele, "ca", is mutant, recessive to the full color, Burmese and Siamese alleles, and dominant to the albino allele. This allele produces a nearly complete albinism with a translucent white coat and very washed out, pale blue eyes.

The albino allele, "c", is mutant, and is recessive to all the others in this category, producing a complete albinism (lack of color pigmentation) resulting in a translucent white coat and pink eyes.

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THE AGOUTI GENE

This is the gene that controls the pattern of the coat known as "ticking" and comes in two alleles: agouti, "A", which is wild, dominant, and products a banded or "ticked" (agouti) hair, producing in turn a tabby coat; and non-agouti, "a", which is mutant, recessive, and suppresses ticking with in turn will produce a solid-colored coat. This gene only operated upon the color gene (black, dark brown, or light brown) in conjunction with the non-orange allele of the orange-making gene and is masked by the orange allele of the orange-making gene. One of the new hybrid cats, the Chausie, is looking to create a fully ticked coat in their breed, while the Bengal hybrid cat is looking to minimize the ticking in the coat, allowing for more contrast between the background and pattern color gene expressions.

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THE TABBY GENE

This is the last of the genes affecting coat pattern and will control whether the coat is solid, striped, or spotted, and comes in three alleles: mackerel or striped tabby, "T", Abyssinian or all-agouti-tabby, "Ta", and blotched or classic tabby, "tb".

The mackerel tabby allele, "T", is wild, co-dominant with the spotted tabby and Abyssinian alleles and dominant to the classic tabby allele and produces a striped cat with vertical non-agouti stripes on an agouti background. This is the most common of all patterns and is typical grassland camouflage of our domestic cats' wild ancestors.

The spotted tabby is genetically a striped tabby with the stripes broken up by polygene influence. There is no specific "spotted tabby" gene. Do not confuse the spots of our domestic cats with the rosettes of the true spotted cats (such as the Asian Leopard Cat in the Bengal breed): entirely different genes are involved.

The Abyssinian allele, "Ta", is mutant, co-dominant to the mackerel tabby allele and dominant to the classic tabby allele, and will produce an all agouti coat without stripes or spots.

The blotched or classic tabby allele, "tb", is recessive to both the mackerel tabby and the Abyssinian alleles, and will produce irregular non-agouti blotches or "cinnamon-roll" swirls on an agouti background.

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THE BENGAL CAT

This section will discuss briefly some genetic subjects specific to the Bengal Cat (which is a subject that obviously is of deep interest to us here at HDW Enterprises and Foothill Felines Bengals!). Bengals are hybrid descendants of a mating between an Asian Leopard Cat (Felis bengalensis - which is where the name "Bengal" is derived from) and a domestic cat chosen for bringing as many desirable characteristics and as few least-desirable characteristics to the breed as possible. What is a "breed"? You know that you have a breed when there are consistent reproductions of two members of the same species, one male parent and one female parent, which produce off-spring that very closely resemble their parents.

The original Bengal breed standard was based upon the F-1 hybrid cat (the first off-spring of the original hybrid mating). It is interesting to note that in Nature, genetically the first cross often produces a very vigorous and hardy F-1 hybrid, and this axiom does appear to be true with Bengals, also, even though there are almost always fertility problems (especially in males) in the first few generations.

In order to continue to further this exciting new breed of cat, we must always remember that while we originally strove to consistently produce animals that look like the F-1…even if they are F-2, F-3, F-4 or SBT; in present times, however, we also are trying to incorporate some of the unique traits that have come about from the development of the breed itself, including "glitter", clearer coats with less ticking, etc. If we can do this, and the subsequent generations continue to look very similarly to the F-1 hybrid cat, then we have a real breed, and a breed which will continue to keep in our worlds the beauty of the small, wild cats. The use of another breed of domestic cat was needed in order to CREATE the Bengal breed; however, today in this breed, the use of exceptionally physically and temperamentally sound SBT Bengals only should be used as needed in the first (F-1), second (F-2) or third (F-3) generation, and after that, as needed. Past the third generation, if additional out-breeding becomes necessary for some reason, it should be done with the Asian Leopard Cat. This is because the Bengal breed has adequate unique and sound bloodlines now to continue development and improvement, and therefore the risk of brining in undesirable or contrary genetics and mutations from other breeds should now be diligently avoided.

Above, meet Hampton Yukon of Foothill Felines! This gorgeous male from our Bengal breeding program is a stunning example of a variety of genetic markers, including being a seal mink snow Bengal; having rosetted spots; and exhibiting the glitter gene (which is more difficult to see in the snow Bengals, but Yukon has it in abundance).

The hybridization of small wild cats is very interesting, as more members of the family "Felidae" have been studied (chromosomally) than any other mammal…and there is so much similarity to their genetic make-up that hybridization is often possible, and does happen. A "karyotype" is the chromosomal map of the genetic make-up of the cat's cells. If the number of chromosomes and the structure of chromosomes are very similar, then it is usually possible for two separate species to mate and produce a hybrid off-spring.

Of the 23 species of small cats studied to date, 18 of these have 38 pair of chromosomes. The Leopard Cat Karyotype has 38 paired chromosomes; the Domestic Cat Karyotype also has 38 paired chromosomes; however, interestingly enough the Bengal Cat Karyotype has 36 paired and 2 unpaired chromosomes!! The Jungle cat, the Lynx, the Bobcat, the Serval, the Caracal, the European wild cat and the Indian Golden cat are all karyotypically similar to the domestic cat and have mated and produced off-spring with the domestic cat. Again, one of the problems is fertility in the hybrids that are produced, especially in the early generations.

One final note…and that is "Glitter". As many of us who have admired the beauty of the Bengal know, one of the unique qualities about the Bengal is their often "glittered" pelt, which is not found in any other breed to date. What is "glitter"?? The first recorded cat with a high degree of glitter is "Delhi", a street cat with short hair and a highly rufoused color from India. Delhi was imported from India in the early 1980's by Jean Mill, who was looking specifically for a fertile male with a colorful coat, strong bone and muscle, with clean, healthy bloodlines to use in the early days of her Bengal Cat breeding program. Delhi indeed was very fertile and went on to contribute greatly towards the early development of the Bengal breed.

Glitter appears to be a recessive gene, just like the "snow" gene or the "marble" gene in Bengals. And yet, there is evidence that it may actually be an accumulative gene (much like the long hair recessive gene is) in that if one breeds two cats, and each is glittered, their off-spring may have even MORE glitter than the parents!! Other interesting notes about glitter: Black hairs do not seem to have glitter, and in fact, appear to be of a totally different texture than hairs of other colors; Glitter can show up more readily in cats with shorter, velvety coats that refract the light more; There are different types of glitter…"hollow air" glitter, and "gold-tipped" on the ends of the hair glitter.

Glitter was not mentioned in the original TICA Bengal breed standard; however, it is much admired in the cats that have it among Bengal enthusiasts. Many breeders have found that the glitter gene can also help to produce the clearer coats with less ticking in the breed.

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