From BBC
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Climate and science correspondent
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Garfield, Puss in Boots, Aristocats’ Toulouse – cultural icons maybe, ginger most certainly.
And now scientists across two continents have uncovered the DNA mystery that has given our furry friends, particularly males, their notable colour.
They discovered that ginger cats are missing a section of their genetic code, which means the cells responsible for their skin, eye and fur tone produce lighter colours.
The breakthrough has brought delight to the scientists but also the thousands of cat lovers that originally crowdfunded the research.
The scientists hope solving the puzzle could also help shed light on whether orange coloured cats are at increased risk of certain health conditions.
It has been known for decades that it is genetics that gives orange tabby cats their distinctive colouring, but exactly where in the genetic code has evaded scientists till now.
Two teams of scientists at Kyushu University in Japan and Stanford University in the US have now revealed the mystery in simultaneous papers published on Thursday.
What the teams found was that in the cells responsible for giving a cat its skin, hair follicles and eyes their colour – melanocytes – one gene, ARHGAP36, was much more active.
Genes are made up of pieces of DNA which give instructions to a cat’s cells, like other living creatures, on how to function.
By comparing the DNA from dozens of cats with and without orange fur they found that those with ginger colouring had a section of DNA code missing within this ARHGAP36 gene.
Without this DNA
