HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, Alabama 35806 and Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305; email:
Annu Rev Anim Biosci. 2013 Jan;1:125-56. doi: 10.1146/annurev-animal-031412-103659. Epub 2013 Jan 3.
Color variation in companion animals has long been of interest to the breeding and scientific communities. Simple traits, like black versus brown or yellow versus black, have helped to explain principles of transmission genetics and continue to serve as models for studying gene action and interaction. We present a molecular genetic review of pigmentary variation in dogs and cats using a nomenclature and logical framework established by early leaders in the field. For most loci in which molecular variants have been identified (nine in dogs and seven in cats), homologous mutations exist in laboratory mice and/or humans. Exceptions include the K locus in dogs and the Tabby locus in cats, which give rise to alternating stripes or marks of different color, and which illustrate the continued potential of coat color genetics to provide insight into areas that transcend pigment cell biology.
宠物的颜色变异一直是繁育和科学界感兴趣的话题。简单的特征，如黑色与棕色或黄色与黑色的对比，有助于解释传输遗传学的原理，并继续作为研究基因作用和相互作用的模型。我们使用该领域早期领导者建立的命名法和逻辑框架，对犬猫的色素变异进行分子遗传学综述。对于大多数已鉴定出分子变异的基因座（犬 9 个，猫 7 个），在实验小鼠和/或人类中存在同源突变。例外包括犬的 K 基因座和猫的虎斑基因座，它们导致不同颜色的交替条纹或斑纹，这说明了毛色遗传学在超越色素细胞生物学的领域提供深入见解的持续潜力。
