the dilute gene is responsible for the intensity of the coat colour by affecting the amount
of pigments in the hair shaft. The pigment granules are clumped and distributed
unevenly along the hair shaft, resulting in a clear colour.
The "dilute" phenotype in domestic cats affects both eumelanin and phaeomelanin
pathway. The dilution of black results in a grey ("blue") phenotype, while
dilute combined with orange appears as a cream colour, chocolate results in
lilac, cinnamon results in fawn and orange in creme.
The dilute coat
colour phenotype is caused by a single basepair deletion and is inherited in an
autosomal recessive trait.
All coat
colours and coat colour variants are inherited as an autosomal-recessive trait.
The DNA test offers the detection of hidden colours or colour variants of these
colours.
