W locus alleles of the KIT Gene in Turkish Van Cats and Their Association with Certain Phenotypes

Abstract

Objective: Turkish Van cat is special cat breed in the world. The most important characteristics of the Turkish Van cats are the white and silky fur, and different eyes color. W locus of KIT gene was found to be an important gene for the white fur. However, there is not enough information about W locus of Turkish Van cats. The aim of this study was to determine the genotypic distribution of W locus alleles in Turkish Van cats and association between alelles and certain phenotypes.
 Material and Method: 48 Turkish Van cats bred in Van Yüzüncü Yıl University Van Cat Research and Application Center were selected for this study. DNA isolations were carried out from oral swaps and W locus genotyping of these cats was done by PCR. The Chi-square test was used to determine the association between the alleles and certain phenotypes.
 Results: It was shown that 41.67%, 22.92%, 18.75% and 16.67% of cats carried W/W, W/w+, w+/w+and W/ws, respectively. Frequencies of W locus alleles were found to be 61.45%, 30.21%, 8.33% for W, w+, ws, respectively. An association between detected genotypes and the phenotypic characters including eye color, head spotting, and hair length, could not be established.
 Conclusion: Turkish Van cats can carry white (W), white spotting (ws), and wild-type (w+) alleles in the W locus. No association between W locus alleles and eye color, head spotting, and fur length indicates other genetic variations should be addressed to understand genetical backround of the cats.