About Purrier

Why are you collecting pictures and cheek swab from cats? 

The natural world is chalked full of patterns. They are a visual showcase of biodiversity, the lens through which we see the beauty of nature. We often recognize and distinguish animal species by their color markings, but the biology of pattern formation is an age-old mystery that we are only recently beginning to understand, thanks in part to a partnership of the cat breeding community. Genetic studies, involving the collaboration of breeders and scientists, have identified the genes responsible for blotched and ticked tabby patterns, offering the first insights into when, where, and how cat color markings arise.

But, the genes responsible for other tabby patterns – Ocicat spots, Bengal cat rosettes, and Toyger stripes – remains a mystery. These patterns are shaped by years of selective breeding by dozens, even hundreds, of dedicated hobbyists, and likely involve multiple, instead of a single, gene. We can apply the same genetic approaches to these genes, but we need more cats and precise measures of how patterns differ. We can sequence the entire genome of each cat from the genetic material isolate from a cheek swab, and we can use properly oriented pictures to measure aspects of color patterns, including the number, size, and distance between spots. The genetic and patterning information can be analyzed together to pinpoint, in the cat genome, the genes influencing the shape of color patterns.

Which breeds are eligible? How many cats can I enroll? How do I enroll my cats?

We want to enroll as many Bengal cats, Ocicats, Egyptian Maus, and Toygers as we can. Any and every cat in these four breeds is eligible to participate in the study. Participation involves registering to participate through this site, providing some basic information, submitting properly oriented photos of each cat, and mailing cheek swabs. We are especially interested in photos of cats that are older than three months. All instructions for registering, collecting cheek swabs, and submitting photos can be found here. Participation is free. There is no limit to the number of cats you can enroll, and we hope to collect cats with all tabby pattern types: marble (blotched), spotted, rosetted, striped, and anything in between.

Why participate?

Marble carrier test: rosettes, spots, and stripes are altered by a variant form of a gene we call Tabby, that expands tabby markings and causes them to fuse together. The resulting pattern is referred to as classic or blotched tabby in most breeds, and marble in Bengal cats. The classic/blotched/marble tabby pattern is recessive to other patterns, meaning that two copies of the gene variant, one from each parent, are needed to produce the color pattern. Although beautiful classic tabby or marble cats are a goal for some breeders, other breeders would like to limit or avoid producing marbles. 

Blotched/marble carriers (a cat with a single copy of the altered gene) are present in all four the breeds mentioned above, and there are no patterning hallmarks that allow breeders to distinguish a carrier from a non-carrier. There is, however, a genetic test that we provide free of charge when you enroll a cat in our study. We email test results to you within two weeks of receiving the swabs. Our test accurately identified marble carriers and can be used to inform breeding and cattery management decisions. 

Citizen science: the first domestic cat was probably a striped cat since modern domestic cats are derived from stripey Middle Eastern wildcat, Felis sylvestris lybica. The variety of tabby markings in today’s show cats, including spots and rosettes, result from selective breeding involving the coordinated effort of dozens, even hundreds of breeders over many years. This impressive feat of artificial selection provides the perfection pretense for partnership between the breeding and scientific communities. As breeders, you are already participants in creating these patterns. By enrolling in this study, you also become a participant in discovering the molecular processes that shape color patterns. This understanding may directly inform your breeding program, allowing you to “lock in” precise pattern types or to experiment by mixing and matching different genetic components of color pattern. Perhaps more intriguingly, your participation may contribute to a broader understanding of how patterns evolve, in wildcats and in other mammals, like giraffes and zebras.