Spotted cats
Many times, we will feel that simple colors can easily cause visual aesthetic fatigue, especially some dark colors, which do not look very pleasing to the eye. Well, this also leads people to pay more attention to the style of cats when choosing cats. Similarly, in the mysterious evolution process of the cat species, many cats with different coat colors and spots have also been produced. These While cats attract people's attention, they also attract the attention of scientists.
There is no doubt that spotted cats are popular. They have been popular on the Internet in the past. There is a tabby cat named Venus that attracts people's attention. Half of its face is black and the other half is orange. It looks like a tabby cat. The eyes on the black face side are green, but the eyes on the orange side are blue. No one knows how it looks like this, but many people think it is a chimera. Chimera cats are born from the mixing of two embryos in the womb. Such cats are originally very rare. Essentially, most Chimeras are male calico cats, and there are far fewer females.
For a long time, scientists have been studying how cats get their coat color. , such as those cats that produce black and white piebalds, have finally identified a secret gene that determines the freckles of cheetahs and the stripes of domestic cats and felines. The gene is called Taqpep. The protein translated from this gene and the other two genes is very critical and will participate in a series of cell-level reactions, which will eventually determine the unique pattern on your cat.
However, scientists have gone through many detours before this, and they have hypothesized that color is caused by the expansion of pigment cell connections. The resulting results, however, are essentially random effects. Science at the Universities of Bath and Edinburgh in the UK has been examining growing mice. They focused specifically on mouse embryos with black and white spots to see if a process exists that determines the mice's final pigmentation. In this paper published in the journal Nature Communications, researchers admit that not allform.
This deadline surprised many people. Scientists have always believed that the color of piebald animals, especially mice, cats or horses, is determined in the womb after birth. In well-developed skin, pigment is determined by a special type of skin cells called melanocytes. Animals in the embryonic stage have primitive melanocytes, called melanocytes. As the skin grows, they gradually spread out. The scientists don't assume that every cat or mouse can develop a complete pattern, but they do hope to discover something that triggers the way melanocytes move.
Stephen O'Brien, a geneticist at the U.S. National Cancer Institute, said: We've always wanted to understand how cats get their markings. No one knew which genes determine the pattern of markings, but we have found three genes that determine the pattern of fur markings. O'Brien said feline fur styles fall into two categories: stripes or freckles. Domestic cats with freckled fur may be visible or strange to Northern Americans, but are rare in Europe because the preferences of domestic cat breeders in North America and Europe have long been different. Previous research by O'Biren and colleagues has identified the other two The genes isolated are Agouti and Mc1r. These two genes will separately translate into proteins that determine the color and color of the fur. After adding Taqpep, the coat color pattern will become more complex. The Taqpep gradient can explain how the patterns on the fur of black-footed cats come from, but the Taqpep gradient sequence of black-footed cats is different from that of cheetahs and domestic cats.
O'Brien said: In other cats, There are many gradients, but they all occur in different situations. He thinks the gradual change method of species Boyi is very interesting. He said: As long as the benefits of evolution are mentioned, everyone will expect protection, but he feels there is another reason. O’Bien mentioned the stripes of feline fur separated by Taqpep, Agouti, and McIr urban effects. The proteins translated from these genes can all cross the cell membrane and can be classified as a typical family of special proteins. The virus will find a place on the cell membrane where it can invade, so these transmembrane structures are often related to immunity. According to O’Brien, the genes that cause different patterns may also affect immune function.
Of course, mottling refers to a large area of hair color. If your cat has black spots on its body, it is not caused by mottling. This is often caused by mottling. Skin diseases such as folliculitis often occur in one part of the cat's body. For this situation, you can clean the cat's chin. After cleaning, you can wipe it with a clean cotton swab dipped in diluted alcohol. , after treatment, just apply some erythromycin ointment on the back of the cat’s red chin.
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