Colorpoint genetics

ameezers

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So male kitten, mom is lynx point and dad is flame point (that's all the information I know). Kitten to me looks like a solid (not tabby marking/striping on the face, which you usually see in lynx and flame points) blue point from the grainy picture that I saw on social media. Poster was asking if kitten was blue or lilac point. It was very clear to me that kitten wasn't lilac, but it got me wondering about how all this would work.

To be honest I am still having trouble understanding red. I know it is dominant and sex linked, only being passed on through the X chromosome. From what I read a Red colored cat can also carry TWO chocolate genes (which I must admit really messed me up). So does that mean that red is on a different locus from black/chocolate/cinnamon? And if it's on a different locus is it possible for cats to be both dominant for red and black? (I think this is where tortie comes in but I am not 100% sure)

If mom is lynx and dad is flame (I am assuming that both carry dilute?), and neither carry chocolate what would the color ratio of kittens be?

If they both carried chocolate, what color would the kittens be?

Also is it possible for two tabby/striped pointed cats to have a solid pointed offspring?

Sorry I hope I am not being confusing. I know lutece lutece is pretty fantastic about answering things in easy to understand terms, so I am hoping you can help me out!
 

lutece

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Yes, red is on a different gene locus from chocolate / cinnamon. Red is also sex-linked (located on the X chromosome), while the other color genes are autosomal (located on the other chromosomes).

Yes, it's possible for two tabbies to have solid offspring. Solid (non-agouti) is recessive.

As for your question (if mom is lynx and dad is flame, etc), try thinking about each gene locus independently, and then put them together.
  • O locus: Mom is non-red (oo), and dad is red (O).
    • All boys will be non-red (o), since they inherit their X from mom.
    • All girls will be torties (Oo), since they inherit one X from each parent.
  • A locus: Mom is tabby (A-), and we don't know whether dad is genetically tabby or solid, because he's red.
    • If mom carries solid (Aa), and dad is solid (aa), each kitten has a 50% chance of being solid.
    • If both mom and dad are tabbies carrying solid (Aa), each kitten has a 25% chance of being solid.
    • If either parent is homozygous tabby (AA), all kittens will be tabby.
  • D locus: If both parents carry dilute (d), each kitten has a 25% chance of being dilute.
  • B locus: If both parents carry chocolate (b), each kitten has a 25% chance of being chocolate.
So let's say both parents are tabbies carrying solid (Aa), and also carry dilute (Dd) and carry chocolate (Bb)... and finally, dad is red, mom is non-red:
  • Boys can be: seal lynx (A-D-B-), seal point (aaD-B-), blue lynx (A-ddB-), blue point (aaddB-), chocolate lynx (A-D-bb), chocolate point (aaD-bb), lilac lynx (A-ddbb), lilac point (aaddbb).
  • Girls can be the tortie version of any of the above colors :)
The recessive colors will be less likely than the dominant colors. For example the probability for each kitten of being a lilac point (aaddbb) is 25% x 25% x 25% = approximately 1.6%, which is not very likely... but possible.
 
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ameezers

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Absolutely amazing! Thank you so much for taking the time to explain it!
 

lutece

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No problem! I hope that helped clear things up a bit, but if you have more questions feel free to ask :)
 
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ameezers

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So the only way a male cat can be red is if mom is red or passes the gene on correct?

What would happen if mom was chocolate, and dad was red but doesn't carry chocolate? What color would male kittens be?
 

lutece

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Yes, a male gets his only X chromosome from mom, so he can't inherit red from his dad. (Rarely, something unusual will happen such as an XXY male... but normally, a male just gets one X chromosome, and it comes from mom.)

If mom is chocolate (bb), and dad doesn't carry chocolate (BB), all kittens will be chocolate carriers (Bb). So in your original example, with a red point male and seal lynx point female and both parents carrying solid and dilute:
  • Boys could be seal lynx (A-D-Bb), seal point (aaD-Bb), blue lynx (A-ddBb), or blue point (aaddBb).
  • Girls could be tortie versions of the above: Seal torbie point, seal tortie point, blue torbie point, blue tortie point.
 
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ameezers

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what would happen if:
Mom is chocolate, therefore can only pass on chocolate to kittens.
Dad is red, but both genes on the B locus are cinnamon.
Would male kittens still be chocolate than? Because cinnamon is recessive to chocolate?

I am sorry to keep bugging you. I find this all very fascinating, but I must admit my brain doesn't really work that well lol
 

lutece

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Yes, male kittens would still be chocolate in that case, because cinnamon is recessive to chocolate. Let's say mom is homozygous for chocolate, and is non-red (b b o o), dad is cinnamon and red (b1 b1 O). For simplicity's sake let's assume they are both genetic solids and don't carry dilute.
  • Male kittens will be all be chocolate carrying cinnamon (b b1 o).
  • Female kittens will all be chocolate torties carrying cinnamon (b b1 O o).
Feel free to ask as many questions as you want, you aren't bugging me. :)
 
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