Ticked Tabbies, Abyssinians, Somalis, and Singapuras are all mackerel/striped, spotted or classic tabbies until a process caused by two distinct genetic mutations cause their patterns to shrink and disperse during days 18-24 of fetal development. These two unique variants and processes were identified by Chris Kaelin PhD, Greg Barsch MD PhD and Kelly McGowan PhD as well as specifically identified as part of pedigreed cat lineages by Leslie Lyons PhD.
The Ticked variants Tick and TiA are more common in cats of Asian descent and both variants can occur in in the same cat, such as in the case of Cinnamon, the cat used Leslie Lyons as the reference genome sequence for all domestic cats.
Ticked Tabby is an expression of one or both of the dominant variants on cat pattern, but the underlying pattern still exists as do its genes. Therefore, it’s good to keep in mind that while a cat may be homozygous for the expression of Ticked Tabby, the underlying pattern genes are still present. In the future it is likely that Ticked tabby cats will get genetic test results that indicate which Ticked genes they have as well as what underlying tabby patterns the cats have.
Photo courtesy of Helmi Flick.
