Gene Mutation Changed Cheetah’s Spots to Stripes

This article detailed current research about how U.S. researchers in sub-Saharan Africa have determined the biological mechanism for stripes in the coat of both tabby cats as well as the cheetah’s “normally spotted coat.” Interestingly enough, feral cats found in northern California played an essential role in the study. The study revealed that it was a specific biological pathway that, when affected by a certain mutation, caused the gene caused stripes to become blotches as well as spots to become stripes. In the past, the differences between the striped and spotted cheetahs (which are evident in cats as well) were so significant that biologist had believed that they belong to two distinct species altogether. Even despite this discovery, experts still pose the question of how relatively little is known of the, “biological explanation for cheetah spots or the stripes on tigers, zebras or even the ordinary house cat.”

I thought that this article was extremely interesting, especially with how long humans have been exposed to the species of cheetahs and cats and how little are still known about these animals. I also had some questions about which coat pattern, if any, would provide the greater level of biological fitness, and how these gene mutation could then be beneficial or detrimental to the affected individual. If a certain mutation causes a specific coat pattern to present a greater level of biological fitness, perhaps in the future we may only see striped cheetahs, and spotted cheetahs may be a rare sight. It is exciting, and also frightening how little is still known about the genome of humans and the other organism we interact with daily. I was also interested in how soon it would be before humans could manipulate this gene in cheetahs and if such research would lead to applications in other organisms or even humans.