A NEW CAT COLOR IS DEFYING GENETIC EXPECTATIONS

You’ve likely heard of spooky black cats, lively orange cats, and elegant tuxedo cats. If you’re a true cat enthusiast, you might even be familiar with rarer color variations like seal point or ticked tabby. But there’s a new cat color making waves—salmiak, or “salty liquorice.”

This striking black, white, and grey shade—named after a popular Finnish snack—is the result of a unique fur strand that starts off black near the root and gradually lightens to white towards the tip. First spotted in 2007, this color was brought to the attention of a group of cat experts, led by feline geneticist Heidi Anderson, in 2019. Since then, the team has been working to figure out what causes this intriguing color to appear. They recently published their findings in the journal Animal Genetics.

When studying cat colors—or genetic traits in general—researchers typically start with the obvious and work their way to more complex explanations. So, the team initially hypothesized that this new color variant might simply be a quirky expression of the “dilution” gene, responsible for lightening fur.

Technically, cats only come in two colors—black and orange. Any other color is either a mix of those two, a lighter version of one of them (due to the dilution gene), or a combination of both. So when experts began noticing salt-and-pepper cats, the obvious assumption was that these cats were an interesting new variation of the dilution gene at work. By adding a bit more white than usual to your typical black cat, you end up with salty liquorice.

After examining all the known genetic variations that influence the expression of the dilution gene in coat color, the team hit a dead end. So, they took the next step—sequencing the entire genome of two of these unique cats and sifting through the complex genetic data to find the source of these new coats.

It turns out the answer lay in what was missing. “There was a huge chunk of sequence missing downstream from the KIT gene,” Anderson explained to New Scientist, referring to a gene known to influence white patterns in animal coats. These cats, it turns out, were missing a piece of DNA right next to it.

After testing 181 cats to confirm their findings, the team was able to verify that the missing sequence was responsible for the salmiak coat color. The mutation turned out to be recessive—meaning the cat would only show this color if it inherited the mutation from both parents, which explains why this color is so rare.

Now that they’ve cracked the mystery, the team is thrilled to sit back and appreciate these beautiful kitties, along with the rest of the world. “These coats have inspired admiration for years,” Anderson said. “It’s really exciting that we now have a genetic explanation for it.”

But they’re not just resting on their laurels. As Anderson explained in a blog post, solving this puzzle not only “enhances our understanding of feline coat color genetics,” but could also be “valuable for breeding efforts, helping preserve this unique trait in our feline companions.”

With any luck, we’ll continue to see these beautiful cats for years to come.