Siberian coat colors
Siberian breed standard slightly differs between different feline federations (CFA, TICA, FIFE, WCF, etc) but they all share the same list of recognized coat colors. I categorize them into five major types:
- Striped/blotched patterns
- Agouti/non-Agouti or With and Without a visible pattern
- Dilution/non-Dilution
- With/Without white
- Additional modifiers: silver, sushine (or golden) and sushine-silver
Striped/blotched patterns
The Tabby gene forms tiger or mackerel stripes on a cat's fur. In some cats, stripes are broken up into spots. If Tabby mutates, tiger stripes turn into thick irregular swirls: a blotched pattern.
Stripped (left) and blotched (right) patterns. The picture of the stripped cat was kindly provided by Lyuba Novozhilova (LyuMur cattery)
Agouti/non-Agouti or With and Without a visible pattern
While Tabby forms the stripes, Agouti gene stains them into alternating black and red colors. It results in a visible pattern. If Agouti mutates (non-Agouti), all stripes will become uniformly colored. Agouti and non-Agouti colors are sometimes called "tabby" and "solid." It is misleading. All cats have a tabby pattern. It is just hardly visible in non-Agouti colors because black stripes alternate with black stripes.
Agouti (left) and non-Agouti (right) colors
Dilution/non- Dilution
The Agouti gene stains hairs using two paints (pigments): black/brown and red. Depending on which paint a cat produces more of, it will be either black or red. Tortie cats are an exception because they are black and red at the same time.
Black blotched
Red blotched
The picture was kindly provided by Inna Koshchienko (Vivaldi cattery)
Black tortie blotched
There is a gene called "Dilution." Its protein is involved in the transport of pigment from pigment cells to the hair shaft. If it mutates (non-Dilution), then this transport chain begins to malfunction and the pigment enters the hair unevenly. It dilutes the original colors: black becomes blue, and red turns into cream.
Blue (left) and blue tortie (right) colors. The picture of the blue tortie cat was kindly provided by Heidi Blume
With/Without white
The White gene is responsible for the survival of pigment cells during embryogenesis. If it works normally, a cat becomes fully colored. If the White gene mutates, either white spots appear or the cat becomes all-white depending on a specific mutation.
Cats with white spots (left) and all-white (right). The picture of the all-white cat was kindly provided by Irina Politova (Avantage cattery)
Additional modifiers: silver, sunshine (or golden) and sunshine-silver
Siberian cats have three relatively unique coat colors: silver, sunshine or golden, and one color that is considered to be breed-specific: sunshine-silver or bimetallic. The silver color is characterized by vanishing the pigment (especially the yellow one) from the cat’s hair. The golden color is formed by an excess of the yellow pigment, while sunshine-silver is a peculiar mix between the silver and the golden colors.
Black silver (left) and cream silver (right) colors. Both pictures were kindly provided by Benjamin Siot (des Erables Dorés cattery)
Black golden (left) and blue sunshine-silver (right) colors. The picture of the black golden cat was kindly provided by Lyuba Novozhilova (LyuMur and Iz Tverskogo Knyazhestva catteries). The picture of the blue sunshine cat was kindly provided by Benjamin Siot (des Erables Dorés cattery)
References
Beauvois H, Dufaure de Citres C, Gache V, Abitbol M. Siberian cats help in solving part of the mystery surrounding golden cats. Anim Genet. 2021 Aug;52(4):482-491. doi: 10.1111/age.13076
Kaelin, C.B., McGowan, K.A. & Barsh, G.S. Developmental genetics of color pattern establishment in cats. Nat Commun12, 5127 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25348-2
David VA, Menotti-Raymond M, Wallace AC, Roelke M, Kehler J, Leighty R, Eizirik E, Hannah SS, Nelson G, Schäffer AA, Connelly CJ, O'Brien SJ, Ryugo DK. Endogenous retrovirus insertion in the KIT oncogene determines white and white spotting in domestic cats. G3 (Bethesda). 2014 Aug 1;4(10):1881-91. doi: 10.1534/g3.114.013425.
Kaelin CB, Barsh GS. Genetics of pigmentation in dogs and cats. Annu Rev Anim Biosci. 2013 Jan;1:125-56. doi: 10.1146/annurev-animal-031412-103659. Epub 2013 Jan 3. PMID: 25387014.
Kaelin CB, Xu X, Hong LZ, David VA, McGowan KA, Schmidt-Küntzel A, Roelke ME, Pino J, Pontius J, Cooper GM, Manuel H, Swanson WF, Marker L, Harper CK, van Dyk A, Yue B, Mullikin JC, Warren WC, Eizirik E, Kos L, O'Brien SJ, Barsh GS, Menotti-Raymond M. Specifying and sustaining pigmentation patterns in domestic and wild cats. Science. 2012 Sep 21;337(6101):1536-41. doi: 10.1126/science.1220893.
Kaelin, C.B., McGowan, K.A. & Barsh, G.S. Developmental genetics of color pattern establishment in cats. Nat Commun12, 5127 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25348-2
David VA, Menotti-Raymond M, Wallace AC, Roelke M, Kehler J, Leighty R, Eizirik E, Hannah SS, Nelson G, Schäffer AA, Connelly CJ, O'Brien SJ, Ryugo DK. Endogenous retrovirus insertion in the KIT oncogene determines white and white spotting in domestic cats. G3 (Bethesda). 2014 Aug 1;4(10):1881-91. doi: 10.1534/g3.114.013425.
Kaelin CB, Barsh GS. Genetics of pigmentation in dogs and cats. Annu Rev Anim Biosci. 2013 Jan;1:125-56. doi: 10.1146/annurev-animal-031412-103659. Epub 2013 Jan 3. PMID: 25387014.
Kaelin CB, Xu X, Hong LZ, David VA, McGowan KA, Schmidt-Küntzel A, Roelke ME, Pino J, Pontius J, Cooper GM, Manuel H, Swanson WF, Marker L, Harper CK, van Dyk A, Yue B, Mullikin JC, Warren WC, Eizirik E, Kos L, O'Brien SJ, Barsh GS, Menotti-Raymond M. Specifying and sustaining pigmentation patterns in domestic and wild cats. Science. 2012 Sep 21;337(6101):1536-41. doi: 10.1126/science.1220893.
© Lyubov Malinovskaya, September 2022
