Scientists have uncovered a decades long mystery behind the unique color of Garfield, Puss in Boots, and Aristocats’ Toulouse.
According to BBC, scientists across the two continents have revealed the surprising DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) mystery of ginger cats’ notable color and why most of these furry friends are male.
Team of researchers at the Kyushu University in Japan and Stanford University in the US found that ginger cats have specific genetic variation which effects their color. Due to the missing genetic code the cells responsible for the skin and fur color produce lighter colors.
What the teams found was that in the cells responsible for giving a cat its skin, hair follicles and eyes their color – melanocytes – one gene, ARHGAP36, was much more active.
Genes are made up of pieces of DNA which give instructions to a cat’s cells, like other living creatures, on how to function.
By comparing the DNA from dozens of cats with and without orange fur they found that those with ginger coloring had a section of DNA code missing within this ARHGAP36 gene.
Without this DNA the activity of the ARHGAP36 is not suppressed i.e. it is more active. The scientists believe that the gene instructs those melanocytes to produce lighter pigment.
