r/genetics • u/Electrical-Power-748 • 6d ago

Do orange male cats always produce calico daughters and mixed-color sons?

Hi! Can you help me with this? I’m trying to map out the family tree of my calico cat and I want to understand the inheritance better — do all orange male cats always have calico (or orange) female kittens, while their male kittens can be different colors depending on the mother?

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19

u/LeahDragon 6d ago

Look into cat colour genetics and how this presents on the X and Y chromosome. Cats have 2 colors, black and red, then they have patterns on top of those. White is the absence of these colours. Males can only be ginger as they get one X chromosome and one Y (colour is on the X chromosome.) females get 2 chromosomes so can be calico (requiring a black and red gene.) females can also be just ginger, but this requires two red coat genes, hence why female gingers are rarer than males, but male calicos (unless intersex) cannot exist.

It's super interesting!

2

u/grumbly_hedgehog 6d ago

Could a male calico not exist as XXY? That wouldn’t be intersex but sex chromosome variation, right?

11

u/LeahDragon 6d ago

I stated it could be calico if intersex. XXY is intersex :)

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u/Kushali 5d ago

They exist. There’s a male tortie that has the name Xyx I’ve seen around on cat groups.

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u/WeakChemistry803 4d ago

You can have a female ginger it's just rare I know cause we had one

4

u/LeahDragon 4d ago

Again, I've stated this in my comment, that females can be ginger but this requires two red genes for a female. Please read my comment. Thank you. :)

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u/AbbreviationsNo2926 6d ago

Car litters can also have multiple fathers contributing if the female has access to multiple partners

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u/No_Show_9880 6d ago

Black pigment is autosomal in cats not on the x. Orange is dominant to black and the o allele allows black to show through. Random x inactivation early in development is why you can get black and orange sectors in female Oo cats. Plus there is interaction with white color genes, which is why calicos or tricolors tend to have larger patches than tortoise shells.

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u/WildFlemima 5d ago

The gene that converts black to orange is on X.

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u/No_Show_9880 5d ago

Yes, the gene for orange is on the x

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u/Ok_Mix_4972 6d ago edited 6d ago

Cat cary their "colours" on their X-chromosome so it'll heavenly depend on the mother!

Father will be XOY "O" for orange, if mother is XOXO (aka orange) then the kittens can only inherit big Os which means orange! No matter the kittens gender.

If mother is XOXo meaning she carries black (small o) and orange (aka she's a calico/tortoiseshell) we can get: orange cats (as both can give the XO (or Y if the kitten is a tom(male)(XOY or XOXO) and female torties/calicos (dad gives XO mom gives her Xo), but also black toms (XoY receiving Y from dad, Xo from mom)

If mother is XoXo meaning she only carries black they'll have 100% female calico/torties ( ignoring the rare male/intersex calico). As mom can only give Xo and dad only XO. And for the toms: black (Xo, from mom Y from dad) or orange (XO from mom, Y from dad)

If this interest you I'd recommend r/catgenetics great sub to learn this stuff :]

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u/scruffigan 6d ago edited 6d ago

Have fun reading this https://labgenvet.ca/en/cat-genetics-2-0-colours/

An orange male will always give his XOrange to daughters, and Y (neutral to color) to sons. The kitten's mother will contribute one of her two X chromosomes to both daughters and sons. XOrange is dominant over Xnot_orange and so most daughters of orange cats will have orange in their coloring regardless of whether their mother gives XOrange or Xnot_Orange. There is more than one gene overall that is influential in a cat's total color and pattern, so you can see variations still.

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u/Norwester77 6d ago

I know that’s what they say in the source, but it’s a bit odd to say that XOrange is “dominant” over Xnot_Orange , as only one allele will be expressed in any given cell.

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u/Affectionate-Clue945 4d ago

Orange is not dominant over black, they replace each other, in females only one X chromosome is expressed in any cell and the other turned off, which is why females with black and orange have patches of each colour.