Genetic panel for feline coat colour and pattern (it is not a disease) that analyses four classic loci: ASIP (agouti/non-agouti), TYRP1 (brown: chocolate and cinnamon), TYR (colorpoint pattern: Siamese and Burmese) and MLPH (dilution). The result predicts the colour/pattern the animal can transmit and helps plan matings, but it does not report disease status.

It is not a disease, so there is no clinical incidence. Allele frequencies vary greatly by breed and population; colorpoint is fixed in breeds such as the Siamese and dilution is common in breeds such as the Russian Blue or the Persian.

Not applicable: it is not a disease and does not produce clinical signs. The test describes the coat colour/pattern genotype and its possible transmission to offspring.

Each locus was molecularly characterized in the early 2000s: ASIP (Eizirik et al., 2003), TYRP1 and TYR (Lyons et al., 2005) and MLPH (Ishida et al., 2006). They are normal Mendelian pigmentation traits, with epistatic interactions (for example, non-agouti masks the tabby pattern).

- Use the panel to predict the colour/pattern of the offspring and plan matings, not as a health test
- Remember that these are normal recessive traits: two carrier parents can produce offspring with the recessive phenotype
- Do not discard healthy breeding animals because of their colour; assess above all health and welfare criteria
- Interpret each locus separately and consider epistasis (for example, non-agouti masks the tabby pattern)

Phenotype panel, not a disease panel. Colorpoint and Burmese are thermosensitive TYR alleles (pigment only in cool areas), so the thermal environment influences expression. TYRP1 defines brown (chocolate) and cinnamon; ASIP defines agouti/tabby versus non-agouti/solid; MLPH produces dilution (for example, black to blue). Do not confuse with disease panels. Verify the nomenclature and position of each variant, which may vary between laboratories.

1. Eizirik E et al. (2003) Molecular genetics and evolution of melanism in the cat family. Curr Biol 13(5):448-453. PMID: 12620197
2. Lyons LA et al. (2005) Chocolate coated cats: TYRP1 mutations for brown color in domestic cats. Mamm Genome 16(5):356-366. PMID: 16104383
3. Lyons LA et al. (2005) Tyrosinase mutations associated with Siamese and Burmese patterns in the domestic cat (Felis catus). Anim Genet 36(2):119-126. PMID: 15771720
4. Ishida Y et al. (2006) A homozygous single-base deletion in MLPH causes the dilute coat color phenotype in the domestic cat. Genomics 88(6):698-705. PMID: 16860533
5. OMIA:000201-9685 (ASIP), OMIA:001249-9685 (TYRP1), OMIA:000202-9685 (TYR), OMIA:000031-9685 (MLPH).