NEWSLINK: Tabby cats compared to king cheetahs

Tabby Cats Are Mutants, Study Finds
By Amanda Ferris
Taqpep's mutation is responsible for a blotchy stripe pattern in both domesticated cats and a rare breed of big cat called the King Cheetah, who are often found in South Africa. As for their house cat cousins, more tabbies in Europe have the ...

NEWSLINK: More on tabby cat genetics

How the tabby cat earned its stripes Minneapolis Star Tribune This undated photo made available by Science magazine shows tabby cats with the mackerel pattern, top row, and blotched pattern, bottom row. Scientists say they've found the gene that sets the common tabby pattern - stripes or blotches. Cats with ... Scientists identify gene crucial in cat stripes Horsetalk Clearly, not all cats are patterned. In particular, some big adult cats like African lions and mountain lions are distinctive for their lack of color variation even though their cubs are striped. Furthermore, Taqpep mutations are surprisingly common in ... How do cats earn their stripes? It's all in the DNA, as scientists find ... The recently-found gene is one of several that collaborate to create the distinctive design of a cat's coat, and it's the first of the pattern genes to be identified. How the Tabby Cat Got Its Stripes Slate Magazine (blog) Scientists have solved an age-old mouser mystery—why there are stripes on a domestic tabby cat—and discovered yet another connection between Mittens and her wild cousins. Studying the genomes of two groups of tabbies, one with the vertically striped ... Mystery behind cats, zebra stripes to be solved? Newstrack India London, Sep 21 (IANS) With the help of a newly-discovered animal gene, the US scientists appear to be closer to unravel the mystery behind origin of cats' stripes. The gene may explain how the common housecat comes to have a blotchy or stripey tabby ...Mystery behind cats, zebra stripes to be solved? Khaleej Times The recently-found gene is one of several that collaborate to create the distinctive design of a cat's coat, and it's the first of the pattern genes to be identified, Daily Mail reported. The discovery could also solve the mystery about fur markings on ...

NEWSLINK: More on cat coat genetics

How do cats earn their stripes? It's all in the DNA, as scientists find gene ... Daily Mail Scientists have found new DNA evidence which begins to solve the mystery of coat patterns in mammals. The recently-found gene is one of several that collaborate to create the distinctive design of a cat's coat, and it's the first of the pattern genes ... See all stories on this topic » Daily Mail

Study isolates animal coat genes The Press Association A study with echoes of Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories begins to solve the mystery of coat patterns in mammals. Scientists found a similar mechanism responsible for the markings of tabby cats and a rare striped cheetah. They believe the same genes ... How the Tabby Got Its Blotches Science Now Domestic cats often resemble their larger, wilder counterparts—with black, striped, or tawny fur that presumably helps the big hunters blend into the landscape. For scientists, the genes involved in the evolution of cats' color patterns have been ... How Cheetahs And Tabby Cats Got Their Distinctive Markings RedOrbit “We were motivated by a basic question,” said Barsh of the turn to the study of big (and little) cats. “How do periodic patterns like stripes and spots in mammals arise? What generates them? How are they maintained? What is their biological and ...

NEWSLINK: Stripes versus spots

Scientists unlock the mystery of cats' stripes CBS News Leslie Lyons, a cat geneticist who studies coat color traits at the University of California, Davis, but didn't participate in the new work, agreed that the research has identified the tabby's stripes-versus-blotches gene. She noted that mysteries ...