Tanetics: Tan's Genetics Archive

Welcome to my happy place! I am Tan and I write down all my genetics knowledge and research in this Carrd, mainly for my own reference although I'm stoked to have anybody else enjoy my special interest; so, by all means, come in and have a look around!

  • Cats

  • Chickens

  • Cows

  • Dogs

  • Gerbils

  • Goats

  • Guinea pigs

  • Horses

  • Mice

  • Pigeons

  • Pigs

  • Rabbits

  • Rats

  • Sheep

About: The Carrd

"Tanetics" is a play on 'Tan' and 'Genetics'. I am Tan and I like to research animal colour genetics as a hobby.In this Carrd, my animal genetics knowledge and research are stored. It helps me word my information more clearly when writing it down as if I'm informing others, hence this format. You can read here about cats and in the future horses, rodents, dogs and more.Disclaimer: I research genetics as a hobby. My sources come from all over the internet and friends. I want to keep my information as accurate and correct as possible, as is the point of this project, but I cannot guarantee I am the most trustworthy source. I recommend you do research outside of this Carrd alone. If you find any inaccurate information within my Carrd, please contact me!

About: Tan

I'm Tan(he/they), an animal colour genetics enthusiast. Back in 2021, when I was still in college studying animal care, I was able to pick my own subject to learn more about. Being a Warrior Cats fan, I was aware of the amount of information known regarding the genetics of cat colours. This intrigued me and I decided to use the subject of cat genetics for my school project, which ended up getting a perfect grade.I can well say that since then, cat genetics has been my main special interest. I'm not sure why but it has stopped there for a long time, only cats. Later, I started playing with the Minecraft mod 'Realistic Horse Genetics'. Despite being virtual models of horses created with blocks and pixels, I found the horse colours quite beautiful and learned that there are many more than I thought there were.Now, starting since the end of 2023, I'm finally giving in and diving deeper into animal genetics of all sorts of species. This is why I'm making this Carrd; to store my knowledge, track my research and share information with anyone stumbling upon this Carrd.Do you wish to contact me? You can do so on Discord @tanimtoo; I accept all friend requests, so just friend me and shoot me a message!

Credits

Here is a list of credit regarding sources of information, images, etc. If I regularly return to a source I will share it here.

Information

Images

Other

  • Honourary mention to my friend, Canary, who taught me a lot of stuff regarding cat genetics

Cats: Overview

Index

  • Chromosomes

  • Red

  • Black/brown

  • Dilute

  • Dilute modifier

  • Agouti

  • Ticked

  • Tabby type

  • Spotted/broken

  • White masking

  • Albinism

  • Fur length

LocusAlelleGene (dominant)AlelleGene (recessive)
RedOredonon-red
Black/brownBblackb
b1		chocolate
cinnamon
DiluteDdenseddilute
Dilute modifierDmmodifierdmno modifier
AgoutiAagoutiasolid
TickedTatickedtanon-ticked
Tabby typeMcmackerelmcclassic
Spotted/brokenSpspottedspnon-spotted
Bengal/wild modifierBmbengalbmnon-bengal
InhibitorIsilverinon-silver
White spotting/maskingWwhite maskingws
w		white spotting
no white
AlbinismCfull colourcs
cb
ca
c		siamese point
burmese point
blue-eyed albino
pink-eyed albino
Fur lengthLshortllong

Cats: Genetics

Work in progress!

Chromosomes

The sex chromosomes aren't genes, but are important to note due to some genes being sex-linked.

  • XY - male

  • XX - female

When a male and female cat have kittens, they will each pass on one random chromosome to each kitten. This means female a kitten recieves an X from the father and either X from the mother, and a male kitten receives a Y from the father and either X from the mother.

(image to be added)

Red

The Red locus decides whether a cat is red or black/brown. This can best be envisioned as 'red or not', as these genes don't determine anything about the actual black/brown colour.

  • O - red

  • o - non-red

The Red locus is located on only the X-chromosome and does not appear on the Y-chromosome. For this, they are often written together as XO or Xo. Because the Y-chromosome does not carry the Red locus, it remains written as Y.

  • XO/Y - red male

  • Xo/Y - black/brown male

Because female cats have two X-chromosomes, there's a chance they inherit both the red gene and the non-red gene; XOXo. When this happens, the cat will show several patches of both red and black/brown. These are called tortoiseshell (alternatively, when white is involved, they can be called calico).

  • XO/XO - red female

  • XO/Xo - tortoiseshell

  • Xo/Xo - black/brown female

(image to be added)

Most red cats are males, but not all. This is because males only need to inherit one X-chromosome with the red gene on it. Females will need two. Female cats can be red when both the father and mother are red, or if the father is red and the mother is a tortoiseshell."Tortoiseshell males" exist only in cases of 'errors' and should not be considered here.

Horses: Overview

Index

  • Extension

  • Agouti

  • Cream

  • Pearl

  • Champagne

  • Mushroom

  • Silver

  • Grey

  • Dun

  • KIT/White

  • Tobiano

  • Overo

  • Leopard

LocusAlelleGene (dominant)AlelleGene (recessive)
ExtensionEblack factorered factor
AgoutiAagoutianon-agouti

Horses: Genetics

Horses have two types of pigment; red (pheomelanin) and black (eumelalin). Both pigments can cause a range of colours (red can be anything from a light yellow-brown to a deep red-brown, black can be a dark chocolate-brown or jet black) and the absense of pigment can cause a variation of additional colours as well.

Extension

The Extension locus (otherwise called "red factor" or "black/red factor") determines whether the black pigment is only present on the horse's skin or if it 'extends' onto the horse's hair as well.

  • E - black factor

  • e - red factor

Homozygous red factor (e/e) will cause a horse to be chestnut or have a chestnut base. All the horse's hair, both fur and mane/tail, will be a red colour.

  • E/E - black factor

  • E/e - black factor

  • e/e - red factor

Black factor, either homozygous (E/E) or heterozygous (E/e), will allow black pigment on the horse's hair, making them either bay or black depending on the agouti genes.

(image to be added)

Agouti

If the horse has at least one dominant Extension gene, it can produce black pigment on the coat. The Agouti locus has two genes that will determine whether that black pigment is restricted or not.

  • A - agouti

  • a - non-agouti

An horse with at least one dominant Agouti gene (A/A or A/a) will produce both red and black pigment, though the black pigment is restricted to the mane, tail and legs. This is called a bay horse. A horse with two recessive Agouti genes can't restrict it's black pigment and will be a fully black horse.

  • A/A - agouti

  • A/a - agouti

  • a/a - non-agouti

Below is a table with all the possible phenotypes from the combination of Extension and Agouti genes.


A/-a/a
E/-bayblack
e/echestnutchestnut

(image to be added)

Coming Soon!

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