Introduction
One of the most common colors of cats in the world is striped. However, the well-known variety of cats appeared only in the late 1800s, when the Englishman Harrison Weir published a guide to standards for common breeds of that time. Since then, based on the genetic data obtained from more than 1,000 cats, at least 17 populations of domestic cats have been identified, including 22 breeds. More than 70 genetic variants have been identified, and about 40 of them affect the appearance of the cat, that is, the color of the coat, the pattern of the skin, the length of the coat, eye color, and body structure.
Discussion
The domestic cat and its closest ancestor of the wild cat are diploid, and cats have 38 chromosomes arranged in the form of 18 somatic pairs + sex chromosomes X and Y, and the cat’s genome contains about 20,000 genes. Gene expression on non-sex chromosomes usually occurs in dominant-recessive patterns, but additional levels of complexity can change this, for example, polygenic traits, incomplete penetrance, epigenetics, and environmental signals. Tabby cats are striped twice, with a pattern of stripes on the body plus stripes on individual hairs.
Conclusion
The genes that determine the pattern of the striped cat are activated in the skin cells of the embryo before the cat forms fur. Early skin cells mimic stripes –this has never been observed in embryonic cells. This pattern appeared long before the formation of fur and pigment on the skin, which is responsible for the cat’s color. The expression of genes and proteins that regulate the color of cats’ hair can also be controlled by environmental factors, such as temperature, when the pigment-protein is expressed only in the cooler regions of the body.