How did the marks on the cat come about?

a mystery about how the markings on wild and house cats appear. Gregory Barsh, a geneticist at the Hasen Alpha Biotechnology Institute in the United States, recently published a study on the preprinted site bioRxiv, explaining the formation of cat hair spots and suggesting that the theory may also apply to other mammals.
" is an important paper that reveals part of the genetic basis of many mammalian hairy patches. Denis Headon, a developmental biologist at the Roslin Institute in the UK, said the study also allowed us to understand how these genes work during development and form "highly adaptive mechanisms" that respond to genetic adjustment, resulting in a variety of patterns such as streaks and spots.
have identified hair follicle cells as the source of pigmentation in hair or fur. In 1952, computer pioneer Alan Turing suggested that if molecules spread at different speeds in tissues, mutually inhibited and activated molecules could create periodic patterns in nature. Thirty years later, based on his theory, scientists have come up with the hypothesis of how spots, streaks, and other color patterns develop during development: activator molecules color cells, but also trigger inhibitors that spread faster than activators and prevent pigment production.
The Barsh team took aim at the cat to track the molecular activator and inhibitor properties that affect its hair color. Ten years ago, they tracked down a gene called Tabby, which mutates when tiger-spotted cats develop black spots instead of the usual black stripes. Christopher Kaelin, a geneticist at the Hasen Alpha Biotechnology Institute in the United States, found the same mutation in king cheetahs, suggesting that wild cats have the same genes as house cats.
to understand the role of other genes and their mutations in development, the researchers isolated and sequenced active genes in the skin cells of individuals in early wildcat embryos. They found a sharp increase in the activity of several genes associated with Wnt signals as the embryo developed to about 20 days, with one of the most active genes being Dkk4. The team also found that the mutation that inastated Dkk4 caused the Abyssinian and Singaporean cats to lose significant speckle marks. Barsh points out that Tabby and Dkk4 may play a role in both home cats and wildcats on the same path, but he doesn't yet know how they are linked.
team believes that in cats at home, Wnt and Dkk4 are activators and inhibitors, respectively. In dark skin, the two substances contain roughly the same amount. However, in lighter areas, the faster-moving Dkk4 protein is likely to close the Wnt channel and stop pigment production, resulting in streaks.
As Turing theory predicts, the Wnt-Dkk4 signal once again plays a key role in early development, said Larissa Patterson, a developmental biologist at the Rhode Island Institute in the United States, and the paper provides a thought-provoking insight into the potential mechanisms of hair pattern diversity in wild cats. Roland Baddeley, a computational neuroscientist at the University of Bristol in the UK, agrees: "This process is likely to also work in other mammals. (Source: Xin Yu, China Science Daily)
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