Ever wonder why white tigers are white unlike regular golden ones? The white tiger is not a separate subspecies. Such coat coloration is determined by autosomal recessive gene, which was unknown until recently. Due to recessive mode of inheritance and the dramatic declining numbers of tigers in general, white tigers are extremely rare found in the wild. Group of scientists from China and South Korea discovered that the missense mutation in the SLC45A2 gene is causative for the recessive white phenotype. The SLC45A2 mutation primarily inhibits the synthesis of red/yellow pheomelanin, with no or only minor effect on black eumelanin. That is why, the white tiger is not a true albino, eumelanin is present in the eyes and in the hairs of stripes.
Posted on: Wed, 14 May 2014 12:17:21 +0000
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