Gene O, o |
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ORANGE gene OGene O is responsible that a black, chocolate or cinnamon coloured coat gets red. This
gene colours alls hairs to red. |
Non-orange gene oConsequently a male which has the gene pair oY has a black coat, a female which has the
gene pair Oo is a tortie.
|
Possible gene combinations
|
Now - only with 3 genes - we know already the genetic fingerprints of a lot of colours.
non diluted colour | gene combination | diluted coat colour | gene combination | ||||||
red | male | BB DD OY | female | BB DD OO | cream | male | BB dd OY | female | BB dd OO |
BB Dd OY | BB Dd OO | ||||||||
Bb DD OY | Bb DD OO | Bb dd OY | Bb dd OO | ||||||
Bb Dd OY | Bb Dd OO | ||||||||
Bbl DD OY | Bbl DD OO | Bbl dd OY | Bbl dd OO | ||||||
Bbl Dd OY | Bbl Dd OO | ||||||||
black tortie | female | BB DD Oo | blue tortie | female | BB dd Oo | ||||
BB Dd Oo | |||||||||
Bb DD Oo | Bb dd Oo | ||||||||
Bb Dd Oo | |||||||||
Bbl DD Oo | Bbc dd Oo | ||||||||
Bbl Dd Oo | |||||||||
chocolate tortie | female | bb DD Oo | lilac tortie | female | bb dd Oo | ||||
bb Dd Oo | |||||||||
bbl DD Oo | bbl dd Oo | ||||||||
bbl Dd Oo | |||||||||
cinnamon tortie | female | blbl DD Oo | fawn tortie | female | blbl dd Oo | ||||
blbl Dd Oo |
Is there any difference between a red and a red tabby ?
Particularly not. Red and red tabby cats are genetically the same. Red self is the result
of selective breeding. There are taken the red tabbies - mostly blotched - which show very
little pattern to breed Red selves. The more often this procedure is repeated the more the
pattern will get diffuser so that in the end the tabby pattern cannot be seen. You can see
on the Red selves that they are tabbies if you look at their face, where they show the
"M" on the front, you will also find mostly the most upper ring on the front
legs present.
Selective breeding is also necessary to avoid the white locket on the throat and the white
patch on the tail tip. The older the cats are the larger is usually the white patch on
their tail tip.
From the phenotype you cannot see if your Red tabby is an Agouti tabby or not, because the
Agouti gene which turns "black" hairs into yellow banded hairs cannot fully
operate on orange hairs. We will discuss this fact in a later lesson when we are coming to
the Agouti gene.
coat colour | gene combination | coat colour | gene combination | remarks |
black | B- D- oo | blue | B- dd oo | Note: For "B-" you might put BB, Bb or Bbl. For "D-" you might put DD or Dd. The "-" indicates that we cannot say for sure which gene is present. |
chocolate | b- D- oo | lilac | b- dd oo | Note: For "b-" you might put either bb or bbl. |
cinnamon | blbl D- oo | fawn | blbl dd oo | - |
As "oo" is present by default on all non-orange cats we will omit this gene pair in future which does not mean that it is not present. We do this only because of readability. |
Example 1
:All these cats - females - are red or cream, if they have dd. At the gene O you can see
the meaning of Mimic gene, another mimic gene is
the gene W responsible for an overall
white coat colour. If you want to find out if your cat carries black, chocolate or
cinnamon you must have a closer look on the pedigree or do a test mating with your cat.
For example if you want to know if your cat carries chocolate you have to mate her with a
chocolate male.
Example 2
: We cross a red male with a black femalemale | |||||
BDO | BDY | B-O | B-Y | ||
female | BDo | BB DD Oo black tortie females |
BB DD oY black males |
BB D- Oo black tortie females |
BB D- oY black males |
B-o | BB D- Oo black tortie females |
BB D- oY black males |
BB -- Oo black or blue tortie females |
BB -- oY black or blue males |
With these cats we will never produce red females. We will also not get red males. We will
only get tortie girls.
Example 3:
We change the colours between the male and the female. We cross a black male with a
red female
Our male has the gene combination: BB D- oY
Our female has the gene combination: BB D- OO
male | |||||
BDo | B-o | BDY | B-Y | ||
female | BDO | BB DD Oo black tortie females |
BB D- Oo black tortie females |
BB DD OY red males |
BB D- OY red males |
B-O | BB D- Oo black tortie females |
BB -- Oo black or blue tortie females |
BB D- OY red males |
BB -- OY red or cream males |
With this combination we only get red/cream males and tortie females, we still don't get
red females.
You will also not get a red female, if you use a tortie female. You can try it.
Example 4: We cross a red male with a black tortie female
Our male has the gene combination: BB D- OY
Our female has the gene combination: BB D- Oo
male | |||||
BDO | BDY | B-o | B-Y | ||
female | BDO | BB DD OO hurra ! red females |
BB DD OY red males |
BB D- Oo black tortie females |
BB D- OY red males |
BDo | BB DD Oo black tortie females |
BB DD oY black males |
BB D- oo black females |
BB D- oY black males |
|
B-O | BB D- OO once more red females |
BB D- OY red males |
BB -- Oo black or blue tortie females |
BB -- OY red or cream males |
|
B-o | BB D- Oo black tortie females |
BB D- oY black males |
BB -- oo black or blue females |
BB -- oY black or blue males |
You will get red females only when both parents have red, that means at least the female
must be a tortie which is crossed with a red male. Of course you'll get red females when
both parents are red.
� European Cat Fancy 1997-1999. Please respect the Copyright. Please contact us at [email protected].
Last modified on 99-01-16