![]() The eye color remains unchanged.ĭilute cat coats can be further modified by the dilute modifier gene ( Dm). Diluted chocolate becomes lilac, cinnamon becomes fawn and red becomes cream. There are some cats that are only grey - see grey cat breeds. ![]() Diluted black produces grey (gray) as we know and in the cat world the color is called blue as it is a blue/grey (see the British Shorthair cat at the top of the post). This has an affect on the production of pigment granules in the hair. When the cat coat's color shows dilution it is due to the presence of the two recessive d alleles in the place of the dominant gene D ( dd -called maltese dilution after cats imported from Malta in the early years of the cat fancy). The capital letter D stands for the dominant dense pigment gene. B stands for the browning gene, which in dominant form (signified by a capital B) produces black pigmentation. Taking the self (solid) color of black as a good example, the genotype is aaB-D. ![]() This is in contrast to the agouti gene, the presence of which results in banding of color in the hair. This allows black pigmentation (the substance is called eumelanin) to be produced throughout the hair as it grows. This is a recessive gene in homozygous form ( aa). Self colored cats carry the non-agouti gene. There are four basic solid (self in cat fancy language) dense colors: black, cinnamon, chocolate (see the cat right a Havanna Brown) and red (there are some green cats too apparently). Perhaps a good starting point is to look at the hairs of the coat at a microscopic level in a before and after sequence. What is happening to the color of a cat's coat when there is color dilution. In painting this is achieved by the addition of water to color pigment so that the same amount of color pigment is spread over a wider area. We know that dilution means a watering down of a color.
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