Somali Genetics

What genes make a Somali a Somali - what we know so far

For this section to make sense you need a basic understanding of genetics. If you haven't got this then I suggest you read my page Genetics made Simple and hopefully this will then make this page make sense. If it doesn't then please Email me so I can help

The Somali is a long haired version of the Abyssinian. The breed was developed in the USA from long haired kittens produced in Aby litters. So what applies to the Somali applies to the Aby - with the exception of the long haired gene of course

Basics
The Somali is a ticked tabby, which is a mutation of the typical tabby pattern. As breeders we want the tabby pattern on the head but not on the legs, body, tail or neck (these are known as bars and necklaces and are undesirable and penalised in the show cat). The ticked Tabby is represented as T^aT^a and AA. The long haired gene is recessive so a Somali is ll and an Aby is LL. A Somali variant, like Manot Kooky Kat, is short haired as this allele is dominant and genetically Ll. So all Somalis are llAAT^aT^a. The colours are controlled by additional genes

Somali Colours
The usual (or ruddy) is our equivalent of the black cat & is most dominant colour, in genetic terms, so if the cat has this gene then it will be usual - like Ch & Pr Stacym Quattrocento.

The table below shows the genotypes of Somali colours (remember to add llAAT^aT^a). So a usual Somali like Ch & Pr Stacym Quattrocento is llAAB_D_T^aT^a.
Ch Manot Nestles is chocolate carrying Sorrel, he's never had dilute kittens so his genotype is probably llAAbb¹DDT^aT^a. Its very hard to prove a negative. Genetic analysis has come on in leaps & bounds in recent years and cats can now be tested for whether they carry dilute

Colour	Genotype	Colour	Genotype
Usual	B_	Tortie aka Usual tortie	Oo
Blue	B_dd	Blue tortie	B_ddOo
Chocolate	bb or bb¹	Chocolate tortie	bbOo or bb¹Oo
Lilac	bbdd or bb¹dd	Lilac tortie	bbddOo or bb¹ddOo
Sorrel (aka cinnamon)	b¹b¹	Sorrel tortie	b¹b¹Oo
Fawn	b¹b¹dd	Fawn tortie	b¹b¹dd
Silver aka Usual silver	I_	Silver tortie	I_Oo
Blue Silver	B_ddI_	Blue tortie silver	B_ddOoI_
Chocolate silver	bbI_ or bb¹I_	Chocolate silver tortie	bbI_Oo or bb¹I_Oo
Lilac silver	bbddI_ or bb¹ddI_	Lilac silver tortie	bbddI_Oo or bb¹ddI_Oo
Sorrel silver	b¹b¹I_	Sorrel silver tortie	b¹b¹I_Oo
Fawn silver	b¹b¹ddI_	Fawn silver tortie	b¹b¹ddI_Oo
Red	O(O)	Red silver	I_O(O)
Cream	ddO(O)	Cream silver	ddI_ O(O)

Ch & Pr Stacym Quattrocento & Ch Manot Nestles's genotypes do not have silver or the orange gene.

Ch Stacym Capriciosso is a blue tortie silver female. She has had a chocolate silver kitten so she carries chocolate or sorrel. I don't know which because the father was a chocolate. She has also had non silver kittens and so is heterozygous for silver. Her genotype is llAAB?ddIiOoT^aT^a. Translating this:

l = long hair, l = long hair, A = agouti, A = agouti, B = brown, ? = could be b (chocolate) or b¹ (sorrel), d = dilute, d = dilute, I = silver, i = not silver, O = orange, o = not orange (Oo shows as tortie), T^a = ticked tabby, T^a = ticked tabby.

If we look at Kooky Kat, she's a chocolate tortie female and has had a fawn kitten so she carries sorrel and dilute - her genotype is LlAAbb¹DdiiOoT^aT^a. Translating this:

L = short hair, l = long hair, A = agouti, A = agouti, b = chocolate, b¹= sorrel, D = not dilute, d = dilute, i = not silver, i = not silver, O = orange, o = not orange (Oo shows as tortie), T^a = ticked tabby, T^a = ticked tabby.

Want to read more?
A useful text here is 'Genetics for Cat Breeders & Veterinarians' by Carolyn M. Vella Lorraine M. Shelton John J. McGonagle Terry W. Stanglen ISBN 0 7506 4069 3

Somali Colours The usual (or ruddy) is our equivalent of the black cat & is most dominant colour, in genetic terms, so if the cat has this gene then it will be usual - like Ch & Pr Stacym Quattrocento.

Somali Colours
The usual (or ruddy) is our equivalent of the black cat & is most dominant colour, in genetic terms, so if the cat has this gene then it will be usual - like Ch & Pr Stacym Quattrocento.