The genetics of tiger pelage color variations
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Golden colouration is derived from the wideband gene, which alters the hair growth cycle by extending the lighter phaeomelanin band and reducing the darker eumelanin band, producing a blonde or pale golden coat.
“As a result of a recessive gene, the golden colouration is derived from the wideband gene, which alters the hair growth cycle by extending the portion of each hair shaft containing the lighter (phaeomelanin) band and reducing the darker (eumelanin) band, producing the blonde or pale golden coat [29].”
From Tiger colour morphs in zoos raise conservation and welfare concerns (2026) · cites this paper as [29]
The Dear Editor section identifies the recessive wideband trait with CORIN and describes longer pheomelanin bands and reduced eumelanin in golden-tiger hairs. It only suggests that the mutation extends the period of pheomelanin synthesis during hair growth; it does not establish the claimed mechanism as fact or show that the hair growth cycle itself changes. (LLM, conf=0.87)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredWhite, golden and snow tiger colour morphs are caused by recessive genes or alleles.
“Recessive genes or alleles cause these changes in fur pigmentation [28,29].”
From Tiger colour morphs in zoos raise conservation and welfare concerns (2026) · cites this paper as [29]
The snow tiger is caused by recessive white and wideband genes and is only found in captivity.
“It is caused by recessive white and wideband genes and is only found in captivity [29].”
From Tiger colour morphs in zoos raise conservation and welfare concerns (2026) · cites this paper as [29]
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Cites
The tiger genome and comparative analysis with lion and snow leopard genomes
Cho, Y. S., Hu, L., Hou, H., Lee, H., Xu, J., Kwon, S., Oh, S., Kim, H.-M., Jho, S., Kim, S., et al. (2013) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/ncomms3433 · Cited by 312 · see citing works
Self-citationThe Genetic Basis of White Tigers
Xu, X., Dong, G.-X., Hu, X.-S., Miao, L., Zhang, X.-L., Zhang, D.-L., Yang, H.-D., Zhang, T.-Y., Zou, Z.-T., Zhang, T.-T., et al. (2013) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2013.04.054 · Cited by 212 · see citing works
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 8
- Thornton IW, Yeung K, Sankhala K. J Zool 1967; 152:127-135.
- Robinson R. Genetica 1990; 46:1-31.
- Xu X, Dong GX, Hu XS, et al. Curr Biol 2013; 23:1031-1035.
- Linnen GR, Kingsley EP, Jensen JD, et al. Science 2009; 325:1095- 1098.
- Cho YS, Hu L, Hou H, et al. Nat Commun 2013; 4:2433.
- Enshell-Seijffers D, Lindon C, Morgan BA. Development 2008; 135:217-225.
- Yan W, Sheng N, Seto M, et al. J Biol Chem 1999; 274:14926-14935.
- Kaelin CB, Xu X, Hong LZ, et al. Science 2012; 337:1536-1541. (Supplementary information is linked to the online version of the paper on the Cell Research website.)
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Tiger colour morphs in zoos raise conservation and welfare concerns
Erzinçlioğlu, T. S., Piaz, M. T., Chinpilas, T., Hunnestad, A. V., Godfrey, L., & Fourage, A. (2026) · Discover Animals · doi:10.1007/s44338-026-00163-5
- Authors
- Xu, X., Dong, G.-X., Schmidt-Küntzel, A., Zhang, X.-L., Zhuang, Y., Fang, R., Sun, X., Hu, X.-S., Zhang, T.-Y., Yang, H.-D., Zhang, D.-L., Marker, L., Jiang, Z.-F., Li, R., & Luo, S.-J.
- Affiliations
- Peking University (CN)
- Cheetah Conservation Fund (NA)
- Novogene Bioinformatics Institute (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Luo, Shu-Jin
- Venue
- Cell Research
- Published
- 2017-03-10
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 954-957
- ISSN
- 1001-0602 (ISSN-L)
- 1748-7838
- PMC
- PMC5518981
- OpenAlex
- W2591948978
- Cited by
- 42
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 0.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Cell Research (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (31271320, 31200919)
- Peking University (100871)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › melanin and skin pigmentation
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic and phenotypic traits in livestock
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Mapping and Diversity in Plants and Animals
- Keywords
- tiger, coat color polymorphism, white tiger, SLC45A2, corin, ASIP, pigmentation, genome-wide association study, single nucleotide polymorphisms, captive breeding
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Hair, Humans, Melanins, Mutation, Pigmentation, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Tigers, Genome-Wide Association Study, HEK293 Cells, Molecular Sequence Annotation
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