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Phenotype: Cornish Rex cats have short, soft, curly coats.
Mode of Inheritance: Autosomal recessive
Alleles: N = Normal coat, CR = Cornish Rex coat
Breeds appropriate for testing: Cornish Rex
Explanation of Results:
- Cats with N/N genotype will have normal coats and cannot transmit this Cornish Rex coat variant to their offspring.
- Cats with N/CR genotype will have normal coats and are carriers of this Cornish Rex coat variant. Matings between two carriers are predicted to produce 25% of kittens with Cornish Rex coats.
- Cats with CR/CR genotype will have a Cornish Rex coat and will transmit this Cornish Rex coat variant to all of their offspring. Matings with other CR/CR genotype cats are expected to produce all Cornish Rex coated kittens.
The Cornish Rex breed of cat is characterized by a soft curly coat. The Lyons Feline Genetics Research Laboratory at University of California, Davis identified a 4 bp deletion (c.250-253 delTTTG) in lysophosphatidic acid receptor 6 (LPAR6). The mutation, inherited in an autosomal recessive fashion, affects the function of a gene crucial for hair formation and maintenance and is fixed in Cornish and also found in German Rex cats.
Testing for the Cornish Rex curly coat mutation in Cornish Rex cats can assist breeders in confirming breed affiliation as they are fixed for the variant. Test results can also be used in outcrossing programs, to help breeders select the carrier cats that could produce curly coat in the next generation.
Species
Breed
Test Result | Cornish Rex Coats |
---|---|
N/N | Normal. Cat does not have Cornish Rex mutation. |
N/CR |
Carrier. Cat has one copy of Cornish Rex mutation. Breedings between carriers are expected to produce 25% curly coated offspring. |
CR/CR |
Curly coat. |
Gandolfi, B., Alhaddad, H., Affolter, V.K., Brockman, J., Haggstrom, J., Joslin, S.E., Koehne, A.L., Mullikin, J.C., Outerbridge, C.A., Warren, W.C., Lyons, L.A. (2013). To the root of the curl: a signature of a recent selective sweep identifies a mutation that defines the Cornish Rex cat breed. PLoS One 8:e67105. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0067105