Journal of Heredity Advance Access originally published online on April 27, 2009
Journal of Heredity 2009 100(Supplement 1):S8-S13; doi:10.1093/jhered/esp018
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This article appears in the following Journal of Heredity issue: Symposium Issue: Fourth International Conference on Advances in Canine and Feline Genomics and Inherited Diseases, Saint Malo, Brittany, France, 21-24 May 2008. [View the issue table of contents]
Original Articles |
Mapping of the Domestic Cat "SILVER" Coat Color Locus Identifies a Unique Genomic Location for Silver in Mammals
From the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity, National Cancer Institute-Frederick, Frederick, MD 21702 (Menotti-Raymond, David, Ghaffari, and O'Brien); the Centro de Biologia, Genômica e Molecular, Faculdade de Biociências, PUCRS, Porto Alegre, RS 90619-900, Brazil (Eizirik); the Instituto Pró-Carnívoros, Brazil (Eizirik); and the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity, SAIC-Frederick, National Cancer Institute-Frederick, Frederick, MD 21702 (Roelke)
Address correspondence to Marilyn Menotti-Raymond at the address above, or e-mail: raymond{at}ncifcrf.gov.
The SILVER locus has been mapped in the domestic cat, identifying a unique genomic location distinct from that of any known reported gene associated with silver or hypopigmentation in mammals. A demonstrated lack of linkage to SILV, the strong candidate gene for silver, led to the initiation of a genome scan utilizing 2 pedigrees segregating for silver coat color. Linkage mapping defined a genomic region for SILVER as a 3.3-Mb region, (95.87–99.21 Mb) on chromosome D2, (peak logarithm of the odds = 10.5, 
= 0), which displays conserved synteny to a genomic interval between 118.58 and 121.85 Mb on chromosome 10 in the human genome. In the domestic cat, mutations at the SILVER locus suppress the development of pigment in the hair, but in contrast to other mammalian silver variants, there is an apparently greater influence on the production of pheomelanin than eumelanin pigment. The mapping of a novel locus for SILVER offers much promise in identifying a gene that may help elucidate aspects of pheomelanogenesis, a pathway that has been very elusive, and illustrates the promise of the cat genome project in increasing our understanding of basic biological processes of general relevance for mammals.
Key Words: coat color • domestic cat • genetic linkage mapping • pheomelanogenic • SILVER
Corresponding Editor: William Murphy
Received November 22, 2008
Revised March 6, 2009
Accepted March 16, 2009