Posted by STRAY on Jul 31, 2023 4:33:40 GMT
This guide assumes you have a basic understanding of dominant and recessive genetics (those Punnett squares). If you don’t understand the basics of cat coats, you might have a hard time following this guide. Please visit the Cat Coat guide here!
WHAT IS A GENE STRING?
A gene string is a line of genes that represent a cat’s genotype, or genetic makeup. These are an optional portion of the character creation form, meaning that you can RP on the site without ever needing to know what exactly these are! Windsong’s breeding system (and the site as a whole) operates on mostly-realistic genetics as a base for designing characters. You can always ask for help with genetics in the #help channel of our Discord, but if you’re interested in writing out a gene string yourself or are just curious about what each section means, this guide is for you!
Gene strings may seem like they are a bunch of random upper and lowercase letters, but they are essentially just shorthand code for the following:
This order is only for convenience. These genes are also the most common that you’ll include on your form if you decide to. Each gene is represented by a pair of alleles. Going segment by segment, here’s what each gene means:
XoY ll BB dd Aa mcmc Tata Ccs Wsw
Now let's break down the gene string of a cat who does not exist on-site.
XOXo Ll Bb1 Dd aa Mcmc spsp ii CC Wsw
If you'd like to practice decoding gene strings, you can reply here or ping me (@chromaticore) in our Discord server for a random string! I will answer what you got correct, guide you through what you got incorrect, and answer any follow-up questions you may have.
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WHAT IS A GENE STRING?
A gene string is a line of genes that represent a cat’s genotype, or genetic makeup. These are an optional portion of the character creation form, meaning that you can RP on the site without ever needing to know what exactly these are! Windsong’s breeding system (and the site as a whole) operates on mostly-realistic genetics as a base for designing characters. You can always ask for help with genetics in the #help channel of our Discord, but if you’re interested in writing out a gene string yourself or are just curious about what each section means, this guide is for you!
Gene strings may seem like they are a bunch of random upper and lowercase letters, but they are essentially just shorthand code for the following:
Sex & fur color / Pelt length / Eumelanin / Dilution / Agouti / Tabby pattern / Inhibitor gene / Colorpoint / White spotting
This order is only for convenience. These genes are also the most common that you’ll include on your form if you decide to. Each gene is represented by a pair of alleles. Going segment by segment, here’s what each gene means:
Xo/XO: Not red or red. Female cats can have both since red is attached to the X gene and they have two of those—that’s how we get tortoiseshells (XoXO)! Males get only one X, so they can only either be black or red. This is also why only red or only black female cats are uncommon (but possible!), since they need two of either instead of just one. You can determine a cat's sex by this, but their gender may be different, hence the usage of "male" and "female" instead of "tom" and "molly".When you combine these all together, you get a gene string! How does that look in action? Well, let’s break a complete gene string down together, shall we? Here is the gene string of Minnowstream, the site’s first FogClan healer:
L/l: Shorthair or longhair. “Medium-hair” is usually genetically longhaired, but if it makes things easier to remember, we also accept Ll (Shorthair carrying Longhair).
B/b/b1: Eumelanin. There are three types: black (B), chocolate (b), cinnamon (b1/bl, both are valid). Cinnamon is the most recessive, as it requires two b1 alleles. A cat that has "bb1" will be chocolate carrying cinnamon. Red overrides eumelanin if it is present, but cats still have underlying eumelanin and can pass it on. Combined with red, these are the four "self colors". All other pelt colors are just modifications of these four colors.
D/d: Nondilute or dilute. Makes black > grey, red > cream, etc.
A/a: Agouti or solid. Agouti just means this cat will show a tabby pattern. Because of the way the non-agouti gene interacts with sex-linked red, genetically solid red cats will always show tabby markings in some way.
Mc/mc: Mackerel or classic tabby pattern. This can be further affected by the following.Sp/sp: Nonspotted or spotted. While spots can appear to follow a whorl pattern, genetically classic cats cannot be spotted. One copy of the spotted gene results in a "broken" mackerel pattern, while two copies result in true spots.I/i: Inhibitor gene present or not. This turns solids into smokes and tabbies into silvers. It is dominant.
Ta/ta: Ticked or nonticked. This gene overrides every other tabby pattern when it physically appears on a cat’s fur.
C/cs: There are actually quite a few variations of this gene, but for the most part, C means your cat will not be pointed. Point coloration is recessive. This is also the gene that affects albinism.
Ws/Wd/w: White spotting, white dominant, and no white. Wsw will have 0-50% white spotting, WsWs will have 50-100% white spotting.
XoY ll BB dd Aa mcmc Tata Ccs Wsw
XoY: Not-red male. This is noted by the lowercase o attached to the X, as red is a dominant, sex-linked trait.From Minnowstream's gene string only, we can tell what his phenotype is! That's the short descriptor you wrote for the allegiances; it's just what the cat actually looks like on the outside! He is a longhaired grey ticked tabby tom with low white spotting. However, we can glean more information from the gene string than that. We know that he is also genetically a classic tabby. If he has kits, he has a chance to pass on the non-agouti, non-ticked, point coloration, and nonwhite genes.
ll: Longhaired. Noted by both Ls being lowercase, since long fur is recessive.
BB: Black eumelanin. This cat can only pass on black (as opposed to having a chance of passing on chocolate (b) or cinnamon (b1))
dd: Dilute. Noted by both Ds being lowercase. Paired with the above information, this cat is grey.
Aa: Tabby markings (A) carrying solid (a).
mcmc: Classic markings. Noted by both mc's being lowercase.
Tata: Ticked tabby (Ta). Overrides the above classic pattern, though it can still be passed on.
Ccs: Not colorpoint (C), carrying colorpoint (cs).
Wsw: 0-50% white spotting (Ws), carrying nonwhite (w).
Now let's break down the gene string of a cat who does not exist on-site.
XOXo Ll Bb1 Dd aa Mcmc spsp ii CC Wsw
XOXo: This cat carries both red (XO) and black (Xo).This cat is a solid black short (or medium)haired tortoiseshell with low white spotting. As far as "hidden" genetics, if they were a tabby, they would show a normal mackerel pattern. If they have kits, they have a chance to pass on the long fur, cinnamon eumelanin, dilution, classic pattern, and nonwhite genes.
Ll: Shorthaired (or "mediumhaired" by our site's standards).
Bb1: This cat's eumelanin is black (B). Carries cinnamon (b1).
Dd: Nondilute (D), carrying dilute (d).
aa: Solid. However, this cat has red fur, which still shows tabby markings.
Mcmc: Mackerel (Mc), carrying classic (mc).
spsp: No broken stripes/spots.
ii: The inhibitor gene is not present.
CC: Non-pointed.
Wsw: 0-50% white spotting (one copy of Ws), carrying nonwhite (w).
If you'd like to practice decoding gene strings, you can reply here or ping me (@chromaticore) in our Discord server for a random string! I will answer what you got correct, guide you through what you got incorrect, and answer any follow-up questions you may have.