Population Genetics of Coat Characteristics in Domestic Cats

 

Verne Mills

Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 1998, Volume 19

Abstract

To begin the exercise, students are taught to recognize the coat color and pattern phenotypes produced by alleles at seven distinct gene loci, using photographs of local cats, or pictures from cat calendars and magazines. Each student is then assigned to observe and record the sex, coat colors, and coat patterns of ten free-ranging cats. Students collect this data in the local community, on their own time, over a period of several weeks. Next, students determine and record the genotype at each locus for each cat in their sample.

Keywords:  population genetics, Hardy-Weinburg genetic equilibrium

University of Calgary (1997)