科学家首次发现老虎身上的条纹、美洲豹身上的斑点和家猫身上的纹理至少和3种基因有关。
巴西南里奥格兰德天主教大学的研究者 Eduardo Eizirik说：“我们希望这项研究结果可以打开研究哺乳动物皮肤相关的基因的大门。我们同时希望了解哺乳动物不同皮肤斑纹是如何形成的，以及在不同环境中所起的作用，例如野生猫科动物身上的皮肤“伪装”所起到的重要作用。
发表在2010年《遗传学杂志》1月刊上的研究报告称，科学家研究了具有不同条纹和斑点的家猫，并跟踪其后代的皮肤斑纹。利用称为连锁图谱的统计程序，科学家确定了2组基因的位置。科学家希望识别出所有有关的基因并确定是否适用于其它的哺乳动物。这项研究可为治疗人类皮肤疾病提供更多的科学依据，并且可能改变人类皮肤的颜色基因，创造出“斑马人”、“豹人”及各种皮肤颜色。
《遗传学杂志》主编约翰斯顿(Mark Johnston)说：“这项研究可以帮助我们更好的了解其它哺乳动物头发和皮肤颜色相关的基因。同时，可以为皮肤疾病提供新的治疗手段。”
生物谷推荐原始出处：
Genetics, Vol. 184, 267-275, January 2010, doi:10.1534/genetics.109.109629
Defining and Mapping Mammalian Coat Pattern Genes: Multiple Genomic Regions Implicated in Domestic Cat Stripes and Spots
Eduardo Eizirik*,,,1, Victor A. David*, Valerie Buckley-Beason*,2, Melody E. Roelke, Alejandro A. Sch?ffer**, Steven S. Hannah, Kristina Narfstr?m, Stephen J. O'Brien* and Marilyn Menotti-Raymond*
* Laboratory of Genomic Diversity, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, Maryland 21702, Faculdade de Biociências, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul 90619-900, Brazil, Instituto Pró-Carnívoros, Atibaia, Sao Paulo 12945-010, Brazil, Laboratory of Genomic Diversity, SAIC-Frederick, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, Maryland 21702, ** PetCare Company, National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland 20894, Nestlé Purina, Saint Louis, Missouri 63164 and Department of Ophthalmology, Mason Eye Institute, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65211
1 Corresponding author: Faculdade de Biociências, PUCRS, Av. Ipiranga 6681, Prédio 12, Porto Alegre, RS 90619-900, Brazil.
Mammalian coat patterns (e.g., spots, stripes) are hypothesized to play important roles in camouflage and other relevant processes, yet the genetic and developmental bases for these phenotypes are completely unknown. The domestic cat, with its diversity of coat patterns, is an excellent model organism to investigate these phenomena. We have established three independent pedigrees to map the four recognized pattern variants classically considered to be specified by a single locus, Tabby; in order of dominance, these are the unpatterned agouti form called "Abyssinian" or "ticked" (Ta), followed by Spotted (Ts), Mackerel (TM), and Blotched (tb). We demonstrate that at least three different loci control the coat markings of the domestic cat. One locus, responsible for the Abyssinian form (herein termed the Ticked locus), maps to an 3.8-Mb region on cat chromosome B1. A second locus controls the Tabby alleles TM and tb, and maps to an 5-Mb genomic region on cat chromosome A1. One or more additional loci act as modifiers and create a spotted coat by altering mackerel stripes. On the basis of our results and associated observations, we hypothesize that mammalian patterned coats are formed by two distinct processes: a spatially oriented developmental mechanism that lays down a species-specific pattern of skin cell differentiation and a pigmentation-oriented mechanism that uses information from the preestablished pattern to regulate the synthesis of melanin profiles.
