Latest news with #Arhgap36
Daily Mail
15-05-2025
- Science
- Daily Mail
Eight out of 10 ginger cats are male - and scientists have finally found out why
It is commonly believed that a ginger cat is more likely to cause trouble than other breeds but most feline fans might not realise that orange-coloured moggies are predominantly male. Scientists have now uncovered why 80 per cent of domestic ginger cats are boys - and it is all to do with the Arhgap36 gene. This piece of DNA, also found in humans, usually controls the nervous and hormonal systems, with no relation to pigmentation. But American researchers found in a cat's X chromosome a variation that switches on the Arhgap36 gene inside pigment cells. For male cats - who are made up of XY chromosomes - they only need one piece of this DNA to turn them orange. Whereas female cats - whose make-up is XX chromosomes - would need both pieces of this gene to match up to make them completely ginger. Having only one will lead to a partial tinge in a tortoiseshell or calico pattern. Other ginger-tinged mammals, like orangutans, tigers - and even redheads - will have this disruption take place at an earlier stage in a different gene and so affect males and females equally. 'This is a very unusual mechanism where you get misexpression of a gene in a specific cell type,' Dr Christopher Kaelin from Stanford Medicine in California said. 'In a number of species that have yellow or orange pigment, those mutations almost exclusively occur in one of two genes, and neither of those genes are sex-linked.' The lead researcher of the study published in Current Biology, which looked at 51 variations of cat genes, said that it arose 'probably early on in the domestication process'. Paintings from the 12th century have depicted ginger cats, suggesting this mutation has been around for hundreds of years and could have become more common as humans bred them for their radiant colouring. 'We know that because there are paintings that date to the 12th century where you see clear images of calico cats, so the mutation is quite old,' Dr Kaelin explained. So while ginger cats may be known as feisty, chaotic or fearless, this might just be down to them being male. 'There are not many scientific studies of the personality of orange cats,' the lead researcher added. Last summer, the 'orange cat behaviour' tag went viral online and had 643.1 million views on TikTok which showed off an abundance of rambunctious pets. Dr Anna Foreman, in-house Vet at Everypaw Pet Insurance, told MailOnline that though the science is vague, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence pointing to the conclusion that gingers are wilder than their counterparts. 'Studies on owner's perception of their cat's personality have shown that ginger cats are seen as more friendly, affectionate and playful,' she explained. Ginger cats are not only known for their extroverted personalities, but have become notorious through their popularity in pop culture and media. Winston Churchill famously kept an orange cat called Tango, and celebrities including Elizabeth Moss and Ian Somerhalder have shared snaps of their copper-haired felines on social media too. Elsewhere the film Garfield, which features a friendly but exceptionally lazy, ginger cat, has also likely played a part in people's association with the spirited creatures. In videos posted on social media, ginger cats can also be seen acting with bountiful energy and bravery, with one clip showing a pet jump from the top of an electricity pole all the way to the floor, much to their owner's horror. Cat behaviour expert Roger Tabor explained that science points towards there being differences in breed temperament but little to point directly to colour changing cat's behaviour, despite the claims made of orange cats.
Times
15-05-2025
- Science
- Times
Eight out of ten ginger cats are male. Now we finally know why
Marmalade-coloured cats are not the only orange-furred mammals in the animal kingdom, but scientists have discovered something that sets the tabbies apart from tigers, orangutans and even redheaded humans. Only in domestic cats is the colour orange strongly linked to one sex, with males making up at least 80 per cent of ginger felines. Researchers have now not only uncovered the gene responsible, but also the process that causes it to be linked so strongly to males. • Cats become Britain's favourite pet as Gen Z copy Taylor Swift A gene known as Arhgap36 is shared by many mammalian species, including humans, but it normally has no link to pigmentation. Instead, it helps to govern the relationship between the nervous and hormonal systems. Cancers have
Gizmodo
15-05-2025
- Science
- Gizmodo
Orange You Glad We Finally Figured Out Why Some Cats Are Ginger
Scientists have finally solved the greatest feline mystery of our time: Why is it, exactly, that some cats are orange? Two separate research teams have detailed the answer in two studies published Thursday in the journal Current Biology. They've identified the precise genetic mutation in these cats that explains their orangeness—a mutation not seen in other animals with similar coloration. Orange-furred cats are often referred to as gingers. And according to Chris Kaelin, lead author of one of the new studies, the same basic mechanism underlying red hair in humans applies to orange cats, too: their pigment cells switch from making eumelanin pigment (brown/black) to making pheomelanin pigment (red/orange). But scientists have known for a while that the genetic cause of orangeness in cats is very different from the one in humans and other mammals. 'What motivated us to study orange cats is that the trait is sex-linked (the mutation and the affected gene are on the X chromosome) and sex-linked pigmentation traits are not observed in other species,' Kaelin, a geneticist at Stanford University, told Gizmodo in an email. 'So, we recognized that orange cats provided an opportunity to learn something new and potentially insightful.' The location of this mutation also explains why ginger cats tend to be male (males only possess one X chromosome). Previous studies have narrowed down the mutation's likely location on the X chromosome, but thanks to more comprehensive genomic data from a variety of cats, Kaelin's team and a separate research team from Japan were independently able to isolate the specific genetic quirk underpinning a cat's gingerosity. 'We used genetic approaches to pinpoint a mutation, a small deletion of sequence on the X chromosome, that causes orange color. All orange cats have this deletion, but non-orange cats do not,' Kaelin explained. 'The mutation is not located in a gene (the part of the genome that encodes for proteins). Instead, it's in what we call a non-coding region—the remaining 98% of the genome that does not code for proteins.' According to Kaelin, the mutation activates a nearby gene called Arhgap36 so that it's expressed in pigment cells when it normally shouldn't be. The activation then blocks eumelanin pigment from being produced, causing pheomelanin to be made in its place by default. While genetic variants that trigger orangeness in other animals interact with this same pathway as well, the ginger cat mutation is stranger still because it disturbs a later step of this process. Interestingly, this marks the first time Arhgap36 has been linked to pigmentation. 'This type of mutation is very unusual,' Kaelin notes. The team's discovery doesn't explain everything about why orange cats are the way they are. These felines are commonly depicted as especially dim or mischievous, to the point that they're said to possess a single brain cell that must be shared among all orange cats in the world. But the researchers found no evidence that their mutation causes any other changes, including those related to behavior or temperament. 'One of the key findings of our study is that we observe altered activity of the affected gene in pigment cells, but remarkably not in other cells or tissues including brain areas where the gene is normally expressed,' Kaelin said. 'This suggests that the mutation does not have broad effects.' While the single brain cell theory will have to await more scientific inquiry, the researchers do think their work can lead to more insights. Simply figuring out how this deletion can activate Arhgap36 so precisely might open up a whole new bag of intriguing discoveries waiting to be explored further. 'We would like to understand how the deletion has such a remarkably specific effect on gene activity and we expect that answering this question will have broad implications about how mammalian genes are turned on and off in specific cell types,' Kaelin said. So if you have an orange cat in your life, be sure to thank them for their contribution to science with some extra treats today.
