Specifying and Sustaining Pigmentation Patterns in Felids

The color patterns of mammals are a captivating feature thought to be important for camouflage and species recognition, but the genetic basis for pattern formation remains unknown. The domestic cat, which has distinct forms of heritable color markings collectively known as tabby patterns, provides a good model for identifying coat pattern genes and a platform for interrogating the genetic basis of natural pattern variation among the 36 extant wild cat species.

We used association and linkage to identify a gene responsible for different cat tabby patterns, and have studied its molecular variation in wild felids. Together with global gene expression studies of different colored areas of felid skin, our observations support the view that felid coat patterns—tabby markings in cats, stripes in tigers, and spots in cheetahs—are determined by a conserved mechanism that has been subject to independent modifications in different cat lineages.