Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 6:11 pm Post subject: Seal carrying blue in tortie offspring
I just wanted to ask if anyone knew if i put a blue tortie girl to a seal boy carrying blue, would the seal offspring carry blue?
I know if you put a seal carrying blue to a blue then all the seal offspring will carry blue, but does this rule apply if the mother is tortie? _________________ Harriet Gledstone
It's hard to explain on a forum and not in person, but I'll have a quick go...
Yes - all the offspring will either be blue, or seal carrying blue. The genetics can be confusing, but it might be easier if you try and break things down bit by bit. The kittens will either inherit the blue (or more correctly the dilute gene) from their father, or they won't. They will all inherit the blue gene from their mother.
Next you can think about the red gene. The red gene makes things more fun. The red gene actually alters the way that the colour is expressed. It's not completely dominant like seal, for instance. It gets... hard to explain, but 'switched on and off', which is why torties have a random patterning.
The gene for red is a sex linked gene, and sits on the 'x' chromosome. Girls are XX, boys are XY (they've got a bit missing. Mostly from up top! lol!). Girls can be tortie (because the two legs 'switch' on and off at different times), but boys will always be red - there is no other 'leg' to switch the red on and off. A red girl can occur when the red gene is carried on both X chromosome.
There is a very rare occurence of Tortie males, but usually these are actually hermaphrodites - their chromosome are XXY. They appear male outwardly, but can have both sex organs. One of those quirks of nature. Usually they are infertile, although I have heard of a fertile Tortie male. Interestingly, you cannot register a male as a Tortie with the GCCF - probably because technically the cat is neither male nor female.
This is a very brief, quick run-down on the genetics side of things - so if you don't understand any of it then don't worry. It takes most people ages to understand, and I probably haven't explained it as well as I could have!
I Candice,
Thanks so much for elpaining it to me. I have some understanding of the red series, but was a little unsure as to whether they had the capacity to carry the blue gene - if that makes any sense. Because the red gene is so confusing, and of course not to mention the fact that the males confuse things even further by having the Y chromosome (typical male ) i didnt know if it was pysically possible for the offsring of a tortie mating to carry the blue gene, but thank you so much for letting me know that this can be possible. _________________ Harriet Gledstone
Glad I didn't confuse you! It's harder to put it in writing than explaining it in person (especially last thing at night when I really should be tucked up in bed!).
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) i didnt know if it was pysically possible for the offsring of a tortie mating to carry the blue gene, but thank you so much for letting me know that this can be possible. 
