Simple Bengal Genetics

Patterns

Spotted

Marbled

Colors

Brown

Seal Lynx Point

Seal Mink

Seal Sepia

Lets Breed Some Cats

Glitter

Unrecognized Genes

Color Inhibitor	Longhair	Solid
Blue	Chocolate	Red

Patterns

Spotted  (T^s)

    The spotted pattern is a variant on the mackerel tabby pattern found in most domestics, the bengals pattern is also influenced by the asian leopard cats horizontal pattern unlike the domestic vertical alignment to the pattern. The spotted pattern is dominate over the marble pattern so a spotted bred to a marble will produce all spotted unless the spotted is also carrying the recessive marble pattern.

Spotted not carrying marble (homozygous) - T^sT^s

Spotted carrying marble (heterozygous) - T^st^b

Marbled (t^b)

    The marbled pattern is derived from the classic tabby pattern (also called blotched tabby pattern). In the bengals the asian leopard cat has help to make the pattern more horizontally aligned and gives it more of a wild look over the domestic classic tabby pattern. The marble pattern is a recessive and marble bred to marble will produce nothing but marble. Marble cannot carry spotted or any other pattern due to it being a recessive.

Marble (homozygous) - t^bt^b

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Colors

Brown Tabby (C)

    The brown tabby color is dominate.   Brown tabbies have to have a black tail tip but come in various shades of brown from very light brown (beige) to black-brown. Sometimes you even get a golden ground color with darker markings.

Brown Tabby not carrying any other color (homozygous) - CC

Brown Tabby carrying Lynx Point (heterozygous) - Cc^s

Brown Tabby carrying Sepia (heterozygous) - Cc^b

Seal Lynx Point (c^s)

    Seal lynx points come from the pointed gene (the same gene that creates the points on a Siamese). Lynx point bengals should never have dark masks like a Siamese though. The lynx point gene is recessive to the brown gene but when bred to a cat with the sepia gene (c^b), you do not get a litter with half of one color and half of another. Instead the two genes combine creating the Mink (c^sc^b)color. So lynx point is recessive to full color, or brown (C), but incompletely dominate to Sepia (c^b).

Seal Lynx Point (incomplete dominate) - c^sc^s

Seal Sepia Tabby (c^b)

    Seal sepia's come from the Burmese gene (the same gene that creates the rich color of the Burmese cats). Sepia bengals should never be solid colored like Burmese though. The sepia gene is recessive to the brown gene but when bred to a cat with the pointed gene (c^s), you do not get a litter with half of one color and half of another. Instead the two genes combine creating the Mink (c^sc^b)color. So sepia is recessive to full color, or brown (C), but incompletely dominate to pointed (c^s).

Seal Sepia Tabby (incomplete dominate) - c^bc^b

Seal Mink Tabby (c^sc^b)

    The mink color is the work of two incomplete dominate gene's. Instead of one being dominate over the other they combine to form the mink color (seen in the Tonkinese breed of cats, who originally came from breeding a Siamese to a Burmese). The two genes are the pointed gene (c^s), and the Burmese gene (c^b).

Seal Mink Tabby (result of two incomplete dominates combining) - c^sc^b

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Lets breed some cats to see what we get

    If we breed  a brown spotted tabby that is not carrying any recessives to a mink marbled tabby what would we get?

Homozygous Brown Spotted Tabby - T^sT^sCC (which can be shortened to T^sC)

Seal Mink Marbled Tabby - t^bt^bc^sc^b

	TsC	TsC
tbcs	TstbCcs	TstbCcs
tbcb	TstbCcb	TstbCcb

So we would get the following:

50% Heterozygous Brown Spotted Tabbies (carrying marble and lynx point) T^st^bCc^s

50% Heterozygous Brown Spotted Tabbies (carrying marble and sepia) T^st^bCc^b

Now lets take one of the kittens from this breeding and breed it to a Lynx Point Marble.

Heterozygous Brown Spotted Tabby (carrying marble and sepia) - T^st^bCc^b

Seal Lynx Point Marble - t^bt^bc^sc^s

	TsC	Tscb	tbC	tbcb
tbcs	TstbCcs	Tstbcscb	tbtbCcs	tbtbcscb

So we would get the following:

25% Heterozygous Brown Spotted Tabbies (carrying marble and lynx point) T^st^bCc^s

25% Seal Mink Spotted Tabby (carrying marble) T^st^bc^sc^b

25% Brown Marbled Tabbies (carrying lynx point) t^bt^bCc^s

25% Seal Mink Marbled Tabbies t^bt^bc^sc^b

Now lets breed a Heterozygous Spotted Lynx Point to a Heterozygous Spotted Sepia Tabby.

Seal Lynx Point Spotted - T^st^bc^sc^s

Seal Sepia Spotted Tabby - T^st^bc^bc^b

	Tscs	tbcs
Tscb	TsTscscb	Tstbcscb
tbcb	Tstbcscb	tbtbcscb

So we would get the following:

25% Homozygous Spotted Minks - T^sT^sc^sc^b

50% Heterozygous Spotted Minks - T^st^bc^sc^b

25% Mink Marbles - t^bt^bc^sc^b

Now lets breed two Heterozygous Spotted Mink Tabbies and see what we get.

Mink Marbled Tabby - T^st^bc^sc^b

	Tscs	Tscb	tbcs	tbcb
Tscs	TsTscscs	TsTscscb	Tstbcscs	Tstbcscb
Tscb	TsTscscb	TsTscbcb	Tstbcscb	Tstbcbcb
tbcs	Tstbcscs	Tstbcscb	tbtbcscs	tbtbcscb
tbcb	Tstbcscb	Tstbcbcb	tbtbcscb	tbtbcbcb

So we would get the following:

6.25% Homozygous Spotted Lynx Points T^sT^sc^sc^s

12.5% Homozygous Spotted Minks T^sT^sc^sc^b

6.25% Homozygous Spotted Sepias T^sT^sc^bc^b

12.5% Heterozygous Spotted Lynx Points (carrying marble) T^st^bc^sc^s

25% Heterozygous Spotted Minks (carrying marble) T^st^bc^sc^b

12.5% Heterozygous Spotted Sepias (carrying marble) T^st^bc^bc^b

6.25% Lynx Point Marbles t^bt^bc^sc^s

12.5% Mink Marbled Tabbies t^bt^bc^sc^b

6.25% Sepia Marbled Tabbies t^bt^bc^bc^b

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^{Glitter (No official designation so I am using (g) since it seems to be a recessive)}

^{Glitter is odd little trait introduced by the Indian import Mill brought over to breed to the foundation bengals.   Glitter gives the cat a gold dust (crystal look in lynx points, minks, and sepias) appearance.  All F1's are not glittered since glitter is a domestic gene and the ALC's will not carry it or show it.}

^{Lets breed a Homozygous Non-glittered cat (GG) to a Heterozygous Non-glittered cat (Gg)}

	G	G
G	GG	GG
g	Gg	Gg

So we would get the following:

50% Homozygous Non-glittered cats

50% Heterozygous Non-glittered cats (carry's the glitter gene)

Now lets breed a Heterozygous Non-glittered cat (Gg) to a Homozygous glittered cat (gg).

	G	g
g	Gg	gg
g	Gg	gg

So we would get the following:

50% Heterozygous Non-glittered cats (carrying glitter)

50% Homozygous glittered cats

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Some other unrecognized genes that turn up in bengals

NOTE: These genes are unrecognized in TICA and ACFA.  This means that they are not eligible for Championship competion.  They may be shown in NBC (New Breed/Color class) though.  Some colors (especially Silver) are being developed by several breeders and they hope to get it a recognized color in TICA.  In UFO ANY genetically possible gene combination is showable for Championship status, so any cats that fit the following colors/hair lengths can be shown with no restrictions in UFO.

Color Inhibitor (I)

    The color inhibitor is a dominate, most commonly called Silver. It inhibits the yellow pigment in the hair shafts giving the animal a true white ground color with the darker patterns. Bengals should have the genotype of (i). If you do not want to get silvers you just breed from non-silver animals. A homozygous silver breed to a homozygous brown will produce all heterozygous silvers. The good thing with the Inhibitor gene is that once it is gone you can only bring it back into the gene pool by breeding to a silver again. The inhibitor gene can effect any color of the bengal, so you can have Silvered Browns, Silvered Lynx Points etc.

Breeders are working with this color now in hopes of getting it accepted in several associations.  I personally love the look of a good silver and hope to own one in the near future.

Longhair (l)

    Longhair is a recessive and can only be proven by test breeding or breeding two heterozygous shorthaired cats together (shorthair carrying long hair). This is an unrecognized trait and by culling cats that have produced it is the start of removing it from the breeding program.

Solid (a)

    This is another unrecognized trait. Instead of the distinct ground color and markings the animal is solid black with "ghost" markings. Once again it is a recessive so by looking at a cat you have no idea if it carries it or not. A solid that is also showing the inhibitor gene is called a Smoke (aa I-).

Blue (d)

    Blue is a dilute color of black. It is a recessive trait. Once again another unrecognized in the bengal breed. Blue bengals are a slate gray color, and there paw pads tend to have a rosy undertone to them.

Chocolate (b)

    Chocolate is a mutation of the Black Gene.  It is a medium to dark brown color, sometimes called chestnut. When the dilute factor is added you get Lilac (bb dd).

Red (O)

    Red is a sex linked color.  A Red female will produce Red males and normal and red females. Red (or sometimes called the torbie gene) is easy to distinguish from non-red cats.  Most torbies will have light toes, and intense red tail tips (Bengals should have Black tail tips). Some of the early F1's were torbies and since the males were infertile anyway the red gene wasn't that much of a problem then, but now there is really no use for breeding a red bengal that is not a foundation cat.

    There are several other oddball colors that pop up at times and they should not be bred. The goal of the bengal breed is to mimic a small forest dwelling cat in hopes to preserve the beauty of the wild cats and to also give pet owners a chance to own something unusual instead of going out and bringing a wild cat into an environment where it may not get the best of care.

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