Suppose the two cats below mate. Think about what the resulting kitten would look like. Find the cutest kitten you can that could result from this mating, post it (or a link to it) in the comments section, and explain its genetics. I want to see some cuteness, people.
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5 comments:
The bottom cat would be SS and the top cat ss, so the resulting kitten would be Ss. Here's a link to a cute orange cat whose belly is not visible, but which would be, had it been born to these two cats, white.
http://www.russicats.ru/emainecoon/img/kittens-leyva-red-2-35.jpg
Cute! Your genetics are right, but I don't think that cat is Ss--its paws are orange. If the pigment cells made it all the way to the paws, they probably made it all the way to the belly too.
http://www.all-creatures.org/ak/ak-OrangeBear-11_02.jpg
Am I right, or am I right?
I like Nell's cat and I have a question. How do these genes interrelate with the orange/black pigmentation genes?
Like, if I had a cat that was either Ss or ss, and also had the semi-functional Siamese pigmentation O, would I get a cat that had a striped athletic socks look to its paws, or does the piebald spotting gene keep all that pigment from getting anywhere. If that were true, would it mean that all siamese-colored cats must necessarily be SS cats?
Regardless, kitties!
Nell: you could not be more right. Congratulations!
Matt: good question. No matter what version of the C gene you have, color will only show up in places the pigment cells have been able to get to. So, a regular Siamese cat (black paws, ears, tail) would have to be SS, because only SS cats have any pigment on their paws.
If you had a cat that was Ss and had the semi-functional version of the c gene, here's what would happen: It would have pigment cells everywhere except the paws and belly. But because of its semi-functional C gene, the pigment would only show up in the cold areas. So you'd get a cat that looked like a Siamese cat on the top but had white paws. I don't know if such cats exist.
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