ON THE QUESTION OF THE TRUE HISTORY OF THE "NEW" COLOURS "GOLDEN COPPER" AND "GOLDEN AKITA" IN THE BRITISH BREED.

The official WCF website states that in order to recognize a new colour in an existing breed, a report is required on the origin, history, genetics and breeding rules of the colour varieties. The corresponding presentation was sent to WCF half a year ago, now the second, updated version is being prepared. And while it is being prepared, I decided to write a few more words myself about the "origin, history." I apologize in advance for using other people's photos of chinchillas without permission – these are not used for commercial purposes, but to illustrate the idea.

Let's start with the fact that "gold with urajiro effect"*¹, which has not been able to achieve official recognition in the WCF system for several years, is not something "new". The first cats with this colour were not caught a couple of years ago somewhere in the Carpathians, they were not brought in using another breed, or obtained by genetic engineering or through interspecific hybridization. You can’t even say that it “suddenly appeared,” because, in fact, this colour is the natural result of continued selection of purebred British sires in order to obtain the brightest and purest gold possible without any signs of residual pattern. The effect has been seen before, but is much more noticeable on gold, which is almost devoid of tipping. However, breeders did not immediately pay attention to it or appreciate it, and did not immediately begin to develop it.

For example, one of the most famous first counter-shaded sire was Zur Sternenbucht Golden Macavity (a cat born in 2010, from a father born in 2007 and a mother born in 2006). And if someone thinks that the colour of this cat in that very hazy year of 2010 was "x" or "?", then he is deeply mistaken: Macavity’s colour did not cause the slightest surprise, bewilderment or suspicion of the presence of white spotting in anyone. This cat is BRI ny 12, and it is under that code that he appears in all the pedigrees of his descendants and in all public databases.

If you wish, you can dig deeper, remembering the no less famous ancestor of Macavity - Marvellous Golden Radetzky, born in 1998. In one of the most famous photographs of him, he deliberately puts forward his "white" toes. Do you think that at least he had a mysterious, unknown colour "x"? Not in the least - according to Radetzky’s pedigree he is BRI ny 25.

In a word, gold with counter-shading is a very "new, hitherto unseen" colour! You can't imagine anything newer!

Over the past 15 years, many cats exhibiting gold with counter-shading came from the GoldenBri and Galeksy catteries. In these last two cases, cats with this effect have common roots - sires from the Sun & Snow cattery, descendants of the German cat Velasques Rubio d'Oaxaca (born in 2006). Velasques' litter brother Volcano is also the ancestor of many golden chinchillas with counter-shading, for example, he was the grandfather of Lavangi's Golden Kyona, a British LH cat, the mother of a number of graduates of the Galeksy cattery – counter-shaded golden kittens. Kyona herself was also born in 2010 and her lower body is very bright, but then, in 2010, this did not bother anyone.

Eventually the counter-shaded golden effect was noticed and breeders’ opinions were divided. Some really liked this effect and began to select for ever greater purity and contrast of the highlighted areas. Others, on the contrary, reacted negatively to this effect and preferred to conduct selective breeding to reduce the highlighted areas and weaken the contrast. At the same time, both sets of breeders remained unanimous in one thing: the brighter and richer the shade of gold, the closer it is to red and the farther it is from faded, greyish or yellowish, the better.

Today we can say that the efforts of both sets of breeders and others were crowned with success. The breeders managed to achieve two very different variations of the bright golden colour. However, in addition to the typical representatives of both variations (counter-shaded golden cats and golden cats without counter-shading), a lot of "intermediate" variants have survived, for example, golden cats with strong and contrasting highlighting of the toes, but a coloured chest, or vice versa. In addition, it turned out that counter-shading can be characteristic not only of golden chinchillas (ny 12), but also of golden shaded, golden ticked, and golden tabby. True, in ticked and shaded cats, the highlighted areas are usually covered with black tipping and, due to this, judges do not suspect any “white” is hidden beneath the tipping*². However, it is not these cats that have been the most successful among all types of British golden cats for a long time, but the lightest and brightest golden cats – the chinchillas, which are characterized by minimal (if not completely absent) tipping. There is simply nothing left for them to “dust” their brightened zones with – the eumelanin colour is reduced to a minimum and God forbid that there is least enough for the tip of the tail.

Based on the degree of counter-shading, I divided the golden chinchillas into two types: copper (counter-shading is weakly expressed or almost absent) and akita (counter-shading is strongly expressed). Among the most striking differences, copper may have highlighted fingers, but do not have highlights above the nose, "glasses" around the eyes, and the chest is highlighted unevenly or not at all and looks completely golden. And of course, no one has discounted all manner of intermediate options with which breeders work either in one direction or in another.

For a long time, all variations of minimally tipped gold, including copper and akita, peacefully coexisted under the same colour code, ny 12. But today the difference between them are now so great that it becomes impossible to attribute the same colour code to both of these variations or judge them by the same standard. The standard is a guideline that determines the path of colour development, and the paths for the two variations of gold have become quite opposite to each other. In this regard, it was decided to come up with our own supplementary standard for counter-shaded gold, or at least some kind of encoding of our own that would complement the existing one - for example, nyl instead of the traditional ny. I must emphasize that we are not talking about the recognition of something new or just discovered or previously banned! It is only necessary to supplement the old description, since it does not mention the effect of counter-shading as either an advantage or a disadvantage. Nobody forbade it; it was just that it was not previously noticed and not considered important.

But apparently the breeders didn't have enough problems related to judging copper and akita, because at one fine moment they made themselves another one. A number of quite experienced and well-respected chinchilla breeders (not some beginners who don’t even know themselves who they mated with whom) in breeding together two golden cats suddenly produced kittens that looked like silvers. As they grew, many of them blossomed; some into a kind of clear "gold,” and some into "silver with strong rufism". However, some kittens remained "silver", completely devoid of pheomelanin, and it was often impossible to distinguish them from ordinary silver based on phenotype because there were simply no visual differences. At the same time, many breeding catteries have maintained lines where gold has bred with gold for a long time and have never produced any pseudo-silver kittens from such matings. Thus, this phenomenon, in contrast to the counter-shading effect, was indeed something “new” and “unprecedented” for breeders of British cats, and they first started talking about it relatively recently - around 2018-2019 - when several litters were already sired by the most famous ancestor of "pseudo-silver" kittens, Infinity Jewel Cosmos Golden (born in 2017). Separate reports of such kittens had appeared before, but they were not believed and the breeders were accused of overlooking and allowing a silver cat to be the sire.

Today, the birth of a "pseudo-silver" is no longer a rarity and has become a fairly mass phenomenon, independently discovered in various breeding catteries. Breeders of British cats gave them the name Sunshine. Below are different versions of the British (and related Scottish) Sunshine":

Breeders of British cats were unaware that this name, Sunshine, had long been "taken" by breeders of Siberian cats, who not only called one of their previously existing colours "sunshine", but also achieved its recognition by the WCF. To do this, they did not need either many years of breeding work strictly within the framework of gold, or a detailed study of the standard for a "new" colour, nor completion of genetic research. It is still not really clear by what principle the CORIN gene (WideBandSIB, aka "sunshine gene"), recently discovered in the Siberian breed, is inherited - is it dominant or recessive, and how, in fact, differs from the "Siberian gold" gene. The golden colour has been known to both breeders and the management of felinological systems for a long time - but so far no “gold gene” has been found in any breed!

The history of the recognition of the "new" colour in Siberian cats is connected with the appearance of a request for the legalization of a colour that was previously considered a "defect": an ordinary silver with rufism, born from matings of silver parents. The newly appeared "sunshine" was attributed the property of partially suppressing the influence of the silver gene, leading to the emergence of "bimetallics" - those very silver cats with strong rufism, which were previously considered "defective" silvers. Now, in order to win high places at shows, it is enough for them to simply declare themselves Sunshine and go to the show in the colour "bimetallic" - nus (21...). The newly emerged Sunshines may even be non-agouti (nu encoding), however, at present no one can say what these nu (sunshine smoke) look like. I was surprised to meet her in pedigrees

Breeders of British cats have not even muttered about the recognition of their Sunshine – something really new, something unfamiliar to anyone until recently and with its unclear method of colour inheritance. They are simply not up to it, given the endless problems with even the ordinary, long-established gold, which was suddenly declared "new", "unrecognized", "unseen" and not worthy of any code except "x" or "?". And this is despite the fact that already several really new, until recently, unseen colours have been successfully recognized - without any genetic research, presentations, standards, show rings, assemblies, and so on and so forth. In particular, a whole series of new "patterns" is practically recognized by WCF: "grizzle ticked" - 26, "karpati" - 28, "roan" – 29. Recently, the "charcoal" colour (which, it turns out, is absolutely no different from the Norwegian amber and therefore is denoted in exactly the same way - by the letter t) has earned a personal code. It seems that among the "patterns" the number 27 is still free - and if the "karpati" pattern with its characteristic white ears and white glasses is already recognized as a "pattern", then maybe it is worth giving the code "27" to the counter-shaded effect which, unlike karpati, has been known to breeders for more than a decade, is much more sought after and thus no less deserving of recognition?*⁴

A year ago, our club "Feliz" decided to try to find a solution to at least one issue, the simplest problem of British breeders: how to finally achieve official recognition of the long-existing and increasingly popular colour group "counter-shaded gold". For the "copper" variation, it would seem that there should be no problems anyway - their phenotype does not contradict the old colour standard ny 12, whereas the effect of counter-shading is simply not described. Imagine the surprise of the breeders when, at the last few shows in the WCF system, judges, under pain of losing their license, began to withhold titles even from ordinary gold without counter-shading! Against entries in the evaluation sheet "I see that the paws are not white, but I can't give the title because of the WCF letter!"

On May 8, 2021, a large-scale workshop-presentation-ring was held at the Felis club show with the participation of about 30 golden cats, among which were representatives of both types, as well as various intermediate variations. The WCF leadership was informed in advance about this ring and its objectives; was also sent the extensive study material collected by the breeders, including the presentation of the "new" colours, the draft standard, photographs, videos, pedigrees, and genetic tests. And now, after almost a year, it turned out that all these materials disappeared, and the decision on the recognition of counter-shaded golden colours was entrusted to people who have no idea about the essence of the problem and have only just begun to get acquainted with it. These people have nothing to do with British chinchillas, their own felinological interests lie in a completely different direction; they do not know the history of golden British cats, they are absolutely unaware of genetic research that has been carried out for a long time in this direction, they do not distinguish British gold from Siberian sunshine (so it’s not even worth talking about British sunshine with them, at this stage of acquaintance with the topic it will only confuse them). They have not seen any of our presentations, or our photographs, or our pedigrees, they need to be completely brought up to date, from scratch, perhaps for months, on a matter they are not at all interested in! However, we are required to send materials to such people again and again, despite the fact that they have not only not studied everything sent so far, but simply haven’t even seen it in front of their eyes. This happened to the presentation sent half a year ago, and the same fate, apparently, awaits the results of genetic tests, which the WCF demanded and on which breeders spent more than $2,000. We have not received a single comment, not a single question on the tests and pedigrees provided - only more and more new requirements, each of which becomes more absurd.

After the preliminary ring-presentation, Felis planned to hold an official ring-recognition of counter-shaded golden colours at one of the next shows. Representatives of the WCF were invited to this ring in advance, as it should be according to the procedure, and their preliminary consent was obtained. Then the date of the ring was determined and the arrival of two representatives of the WCF was again agreed. However, suddenly one of the representatives, Beverly Elian, announced that she would not come. Our request to either entrust this important mission to another foreign representative, or to entrust it to one of the Russian specialists, was refused. But we were offered he opportunity to hold another "preliminary ring,” motivated by the fact that the previous one, allegedly, was held contrary to some rule that was invented after it was held. I have been looking for this new rule for a long time on the official WCF website in various sections. Nothing was found.

What options remain for us in this situation? Just to get in touch with fellow chinchilla breeders around the world. Is recognition of counter-shaded gold really necessary for Russian breeders only, whose communication with the management of the WCF, among other things, is complicated by the language barrier? Given the huge popularity of our "akita" and "copper", I have no doubt that there are many breeders in Europe, Asia and America who love golden British cats, both with and without counter-shading, as much as we do, and who, at the same time, can freely communicate with representatives of the WCF in their language. Colleagues, it depends only on us whether golden British cats will regain their legal right to participate in exhibitions, win prizes, and receive normal, understandable pedigrees for everyone without any “x,” or “?” or other obscure characters. I ask those who have connections to take the opportunity to directly interact with the leadership of the WCF, to help us negotiate and agree on the ring-recognation, scheduled for June 4-5, 2022, so that justice will finally prevail for our cats.

*¹) Urajiro, meaning “undersurface white” i.e. “counter-shading,” is a lightening from underneath and on the sides of the head, on the neck, chest, abdomen, inside of the neck and tail, as well as on the inside of the limbs. Synonym - subclass.
*²) This is exactly what we see when looking at Kyona's toes in the photo above. They are not golden as at the pastern, but at the same time they are liberally dusted with black tipping, so they do not seem to be “highlighted” (which, however, cannot be said about the purest, evenly highlighted chest)..
*³) Footnote by Eleonora Ruggiero: To recognize sunshine in Siberian there was a regular show in Italy and afterwards the new colour was accepted at GA WCF in 2017. The mutation is recessive without any doubt. It is possible to test for sunshine at Antagene laboratory in France. The non-agouti cats are "normal" black, blue etc. The heterozygotes cats for Agouti gene and homozyigotes for sunshine are a little bit different "dark sunshine”... Now we have many siberian cats "copper" and the breeders can't understand the tests because they don't understand the difference between sunshine and copper, similar but different!
*⁴) By the way, a question for enthusiasts and successful promoters of the new Karpati colour: how many genetic tests for white piebald did they pass and with what result? Did they test for the Birman "white paws"? Have they been tested for agouti? Has the "Karpati gene" been discovered yet, and in what monograph can one read about this epoch-making scientific research? Or is all this required exclusively from breeders of British chinchillas while other colours can be recognized without any costs for genetic research?

К вопросу о подлинной истории "новых" окрасов "golden copper" и "golden akita" в британской породе

На официальном сайте WCF говорится, что для признания нового окраса в существующей породе необходим Report about the origin, history, genetics and breeding rules of the colour varieties. Соответствующая презентация была выслана в WCF полгода назад, сейчас готовится вторая, обновленная версия. А пока она готовится, я решила и сама написать несколько слов по поводу "origin, history" и не только. Заранее приношу извинения за то, что использовала без спроса чужие фото шиншилл - то не в коммерческих целях, а за идею.

Начнем с того, что окрас "золото с эффектом уражиро"*¹, официального признания которого по системе WCF мы уже несколько лет не можем добиться, никакой не "новый". Первого обладателя этого окраса не поймали пару лет назад где-нибудь в Карпатах, не привнесли вместе с другой породой, не получили методами генной инженерии или посредством межвидовой гибридизации. Про него даже нельзя сказать, что он "внезапно выщепился". Потому что на самом деле этот окрас - естественный результат отбора и подбора чистопородных британских производителей с целью получения как можно более яркого и чистого золота без признаков остаточного рисунка. Эффект, который встречался и раньше, стал намного заметнее на золоте, почти лишенном типпинга. Однако заводчики далеко не сразу обратили на него внимание, не сразу оценили и не сразу начали культивировать.

Одним из самых известных первых производителей с эффектом уражиро был, например, Zur Sternenbucht Golden Macavity (кот, на минуточку, 2010-го года рождения, получен от отца и матери 2007-го и 2006-го годов рождения соответственно). И если кто-то думает, будто бы окрас этого кота в том самом лохматом 2010-м году был "х" или "?", то он глубоко ошибается: окрас Macavity ни у кого не вызвал ни малейшего удивления, недоумения или подозрения в наличии белой пятнистости. Этот кот - BRI ny 12, и именно под такой кодировкой фигурирует во всех родословных своих потомков и во всех общедоступных базах данных.

При желании можно копнуть и глубже, вспомнив не менее известного предка Macavity - Marvellous Golden Radetzky, аж 1998 года рождения. На одной из самых известных фотографий он как специально выставляет вперед свои "белые" пальчики. Думаете, хотя бы он имел таинственный, никому не ведомый окрас "х"? Ничего подобного: по родословной Radetzky - BRI ny 25.

Словом, золото с эффектом уражиро - это ну очень "новый, доселе невиданный" окрас!.. Новее не придумаешь!..

За последние 15 лет множество обладателей контрастного уражиро вышли из питомников GoldenBri и Galeksy (в последних двух случаях у кошек с этим эффектом очевидны общие корни - производители из питомника Sun & Snow, потомки немецкого кота Velasques Rubio d'Oaxaca (2006-ого года рождения). Брат-однопометник Velasques'а Volcano тоже стоит в предках у многих золотых шиншилл, имеющих эффект уражиро) - например, он был дедом Lavangi's Golden Kyona, британской ДШ кошки, матери целого ряда выпускников питомника Galeksy - золотых котят с эффектом уражиро. Сама Kyona тоже 2010-го года рождения и нижняя часть тела у нее сильно высветлена, однако тогда, в 2010-м, это никого не смущало.

В конце концов эффект уражиро на золоте был замечен и мнения заводчиков разделились. Одним очень понравился этот эффект и они стали вести отбор на все большую чистоту и контрастность высветленных зон. Другие, наоборот, негативно отнеслись к данному эффекту и, напротив, предпочли вести отбор на уменьшение высветленных зон и ослабление их контрастности. При этом и те, и другие заводчики остались единодушны в одном: чем ярче и насыщеннее оттенок золота, чем оно ближе к красному и дальше от блеклого, сероватого или желтоватого, тем лучше.

Сегодня можно сказать, что усилия и тех, и других увенчались успехом. Заводчикам удалось получить две очень разные вариации яркого золотого окраса. Однако помимо типичных представителей обеих вариаций (золотые кошки с уражиро - золотые кошки без уражиро) сохранилось очень много "промежуточных" вариантов: например, золотых кошек с сильным и контрастным высветлением пальцев, но окрашенной грудью, или наоборот. Кроме того, выяснилось, что эффект уражиро может быть свойственен не только золотым шиншиллам (ny 12), но и золотым затушеванным, золотым тикированным, золотым рисунчатым. Правда, у тикированных и затушеванных кошек высветленные зоны обычно покрыты черным типпингом, за счет чего и не вызывают у судей опасений, что там, под типпингом, скрыто нечто "белое"*². Однако наибольшим успехом среди всех видов британских золотых кошек уже долгое время пользуются не они, а самые светлые и яркие золотые кошки - шиншиллы, для которых характерен минимальный (а то и вовсе отсутствующий) типпинг. Им свои высветленные зоны "припорошить" просто нечем - эумеланина в окрасе по минимуму и дай бог, чтобы хватило хотя бы на кончик хвоста.

По принципу выраженности эффекта уражиро я разделила золотых шиншилл на два типа: copper (уражиро выражено слабо или вообще отсутствует) и akita (уражиро выражено сильно). Из особенно ярких отличий: у copper могут быть высветленные пальцы, но у них нет высветления над носом, "очков" вокруг глаз, грудь высветлена неравномерно или даже вовсе не высветлена и выглядит полностью золотой. И конечно никто не отменял всевозможные промежуточные варианты, с которыми заводчики работают либо в том, либо в другом направлении.

Долгое время все вариации минимально типпированного золота, в том числе copper и akita, мирно сосуществовали в одном окрасе ny 12. Но сегодня разница между ними уже настолько велика, что становится невозможно отнести обе эти вариации к одному окрасу и судить их по одному и тому же стандарту. Хотя бы потому, что стандарт - это ориентир, определяющий путь развития окраса, а пути эти у двух вариаций золота - противоположные. В связи с этим и было решено придумать для золота с уражиро свой, дополненный стандарт (ну и заодно какую-нибудь свою кодировку, которая дополняла бы уже имеющуюся - например, nyl вместо традиционного ny). Подчеркиваю: речь не идет о признании чего-то нового, только что обнаруженного или же ранее запрещенного! Необходимо всего лишь дополнить старое описание, поскольку в нем не упомянут эффект уражиро ни как достоинство, ни как недостаток. Его никто не запрещал: просто до поры до времени его не замечали, не придавали значения.

Но видимо мало было заводчикам проблем, связанных с судейством copper и akita, потому что в один прекрасный момент они нажили себе еще одну. У ряда вполне опытных и заслуженных шиншилловодов (не новичков каких-нибудь, которые сами не знают, кого с кем повязали) от двух золотых кошек внезапно начали рождаться котята, внешне похожие на серебро. По мере роста многие из них перецветали: часть - в своеобразное осветленное "золото", часть - в "серебро с сильным руфизмом". Однако некоторые котята так и оставались "серебристыми", начисто лишенными феомеланина, причем зачастую отличить их по фенотипу от обычного серебра не представлялось возможным: визуальных отличий просто не было. При этом сохранилось немало питомников, где давно вяжут золото с золотом и никогда не получали и не получают от этих вязок никаких псевдосеребристых котят. Таким образом, это явление, в отличие от эффекта уражиро, было для британоводов и впрямь чем-то "новым" и "невиданным", и впервые заговорили о нем относительно недавно - примерно в 2018-2019-м году, когда было уже получено несколько пометов от самого известного родоначальника "псевдосеребристых" котят Infinity Jewel Cosmos Golden - сам он 2017-го года рождения. Отдельные сообщения о таких котятах появлялись и раньше, но им не верили, обвиняли заводчиков в том, что недоглядели и допустили подвязку серебристым котом.

Сегодня рождение "псевдосеребра" уже перестало быть редкостью и сделалось достаточно массовым явлением, независимо обнаруженным в разных питомниках. Заводчики британских кошек дали ему название - саншайн. Ниже - разные варианты британских (и родственным им шотландских) "саншайнов":

Британоводам было невдомек, что название "саншайн" уже давно "занято" заводчиками сибирских кошек, которые не только назвали так один из своих ранее существующих окрасов, но и добились его признания по WCF под новым именем. Для этого им не понадобилось ни многолетней племенной работы строго в рамках золота, ни детальной проработки стандарта на "новый" окрас, ни доведения до конца генетических исследований. До сих пор толком не выяснено, по какому принципу наследуется недавно обнаруженный в сибирской породе ген CORIN (WideBandSIB, он же "ген саншайна") - доминантен он или рецессивен, и чем, собственно, отличается от гена "сибирского золота". Золотой окрас известен и заводчикам, и руководству фелинологических систем давным-давно - но пока ни в одной породе не обнаружен "ген золота"!

История признания "нового" окраса у сибирских кошек связана с появлением запроса на легализацию окраса, ранее считавшегося "браком": обыкновенного серебра с руфизмом, рожденного от вязок серебристых производителей. Новоявленному "саншайну" было приписано свойство частично подавлять влияние гена серебра, приводя к возникновению "биметалликов" - тех самых серебристых кошек с сильным руфизмом, которых ранее считали "бракованным" серебром. Теперь, чтобы завоевывать на выставках высокие места, им достаточно просто объявить себя саншайнами и идти на выставку в окрасе "биметаллик" - nus (21...). Новоявленные саншайны имеют право быть даже неагути (кодировка nu). Однако до сих пор никто не может сказать, как же эти nu (саншайн дым) выглядят.

Заводчики британских кошек пока даже не заикались по поводу признания своих саншайнов - действительно нового, никому до недавнего времени не знакомого и непонятно как наследуемого окраса. Им просто не до этого, учитывая нескончаемые проблемы даже с обычным, давным-давно известным золотом, которое внезапно объявили "новым", "непризнанным", "невиданным" и не достойным никакой кодировки, кроме "x" или "?". И это при том, что уже несколько действительно новых, до недавнего времени никем не виданных окрасов благополучно признаны - без всяких генетических исследований, презентаций, стандартов, рингов, ассамблей и прочее, прочее. В частности, практически признанной по WCF является целая серия новых "узоров": "grizzle ticked" - 26, "carpati" - 28, "roan" - 29; недавно персональную кодировку заслужил окрас charcoal (который, оказывается, абсолютно ничем не отличается от норвежского амбера и потому обозначается точно так же - буквой t). Вроде бы среди "узоров" пока свободна цифра 27 - и если уж "узором" признан окрас "carpati" с характерными для него белыми ушами и белыми очками, то может быть, стоит отдать "27" эффекту уражиро, который, в отличие от carpati, известен заводчикам больше десяти лет, является намного более востребованным и, таким образом, уж никак не меньше заслуживает признания?*³

Год назад наш клуб "Фелис" решил попытаться все-таки найти решение хотя бы одной, самой простой проблемы британоводов: добиться, наконец, официального признания давно существующей и находящейся на волне популярности группы окрасов "золото с уражиро". Для вариации "copper" проблем, казалось бы, и так не должно быть - их фенотип не противоречит старому стандарту окраса ny 12, где эффект уражиро попросту не описан. Каково же было удивление заводчиков, когда на нескольких последних выставках по системе WCF судьи под страхом потери лицензии начали лишать титулов даже обычное золото без уражиро! Вплоть до записей в оценочном листе "я вижу, что лапки не белые, но титул из-за письма WCF дать не могу!"

8 мая 2021 года на выставке клуба Фелис состоялся масштабный семинар-презентация-ринг с участием около 30 кошек золотых окрасов, среди которых были представители обоих типов, а также разнообразные промежуточные вариации. Руководство WCF было заранее поставлено в известность об этом ринге и его задачах; также был выслан для изучения обширный материал, собранный заводчиками, включая презентацию "новых" окрасов, проект стандарта, фотографии, видеозаписи, родословные, генетические тесты. И вот, спустя почти год, оказалось, что все эти материалы исчезли, а решение вопроса о признании золотых окрасов с уражиро поручено людям, которые не имеют никакого представления о сути проблемы и только-только начали с ней знакомиться. Никакого отношения к британским шиншиллам эти люди не имеют, их собственные фелинологические интересы лежат в совершенно другой плоскости; они не знают истории золотых британских кошек, абсолютно не в курсе генетических исследований, которые давно ведутся в этом направлении, не отличают британское золото от сибирского саншайна (так что разговор о британских саншайнах с ними даже не стоит и начинать, на данном этапе знакомства с темой это лишь запутает их). Они не видели ни наших презентаций, ни наших фотографий, ни наших родословных, их нужно полностью, с нуля, возможно, месяцами, вводить в курс дела, которое им совершенно не интересно! Однако от нас требуют, чтобы именно таким людям мы посылали материалы снова и снова, несмотря на то, что все отправленное они до сих пор не только не изучили, но даже и просто в глаза не видели. Так случилось с отосланной полгода назад презентацией и та же судьба, по-видимому, ожидает и результаты гентестов, которых требовала WCF и на которые заводчики потратили более 2000$. Мы не получили ни единого комментария, ни одного вопроса по высланным тестам и родословным - только все новые и новые требования, которые чем дальше, тем абсурднее.

После предварительного ринга-презентации Фелис планировал проведение на одной из следующих выставок официального ring-recognation золотых окрасов с уражиро. На этот ринг были заранее приглашены представители WCF, как это и положено по процедуре, и получено их предварительное согласие. Затем была определена дата ринга и вновь согласован приезд двух представителей WCF. Однако внезапно один из представителей, Beverly Elian, заявила, что не приедет. На нашу просьбу либо поручить эту важную миссию другому иностранному представителю, либо доверить ее кому-нибудь из российских специалистов последовал отказ. Зато нам предложили провести еще один "предварительный ринг", мотивируя это тем, что предыдущий, якобы, был проведен вразрез в каким-то правилом, которое было придумано уже после его проведения. Я долго искала это новое правило на официальном сайте WCF в разных разделах. Не нашла.

Что нам в этой ситуации остается? Только обратиться к коллегам-шиншилловодам по всему миру. Неужели признание золота с уражиро нужно только российским заводчикам, чье общение с руководством WCF, помимо всего прочего, осложнено еще и языковым барьером? Учитывая огромную популярность наших "akita" и "copper", я даже не сомневаюсь, что существует множество заводчиков в Европе, Азии и Америке, которые не меньше нас любят золотых британских кошек с уражиро и без, и при этом могут свободно общаться с представителями WCF на их языке. Коллеги, только от нас зависит, вернут ли золотые британские кошки свое законное право участвовать в выставках, занимать призовые места, получать нормальные, понятные всем родословные без всяких x, ? и прочих невнятных символов. Прошу тех, у кого есть связи, есть возможность прямого взаимодействия с руководством WCF, помочь нам в переговорах и согласовании ring-recognation, намеченного на 4-5 июня 2022 года, чтобы в отношении наших кошек наконец восторжествовала справедливость.

*¹) Уражиро - это осветление снизу и по бокам головы, на шее, груди, животе, внутренней стороне шеи и хвоста, а также внутренней стороне конечностей. Синоним - подлас.
*²) Именно это мы наблюдаем, глядя на пальчики кошки Kyona на фото выше. Они не золотые, как пясть, но при этом обильно припорошены черным типпингом, так что уже вроде как и не "высветленные" (чего, впрочем, не скажешь о чистейшей, равномерно высветленной груди).
*³) Кстати, вопрос к энтузиастам и успешным продвигателям нового окраса карпати: а много ли генетических тестов на белую пегость они сдали и с каким результатом? А сдавали ли на бурманские "белые лапки"? А сдавали ли на агути? А обнаружен ли уже "ген карпати" и в какой монографии можно прочесть об этом эпохальном научном исследовании? Или все это требуют исключительно от заводчиков британских шиншилл, а остальные окрасы можно признать и так, без всяких затрат на генетические исследования?

Once again about the dominant gene for blue eyes
^{in the cattery Ermine Trace}

III. What are the dominant genes for blue eyes?

Having begun to better understand the nature of DBE, we found that mutations that affect melanogenesis [melanin formation] to produce a blue-eyed or odd-eyed phenotype coupled with a small amount of white fur, are far from uncommon. There are not merely one or two known mutations of this type, there are dozens. They can be located on different chromosomes, in different genes, among which the best known are PAX3, MITF, EDNRB and others. Humans have similar mutations, not to mention mice, ferrets, dogs, horses, etc. However, it was the human mutations that became most famous thanks to the Dutch scientist, ophthalmologist and geneticist Petrus Johannes Waardenburg, who studied and described their manifestation in 1948-1951. In his honour, the corresponding phenotypic traits in humans were given a standard medical name according to established tradition, and bore a pronounced negative connotation: "Waardenburg syndrome".

It must be said that many, if not all, mutations that become breed- or colour-forming in domestic animals instantly fall into the category of "syndromes" and "hereditary diseases" in humans. The same is true of albinism, and indeed any deviation from normal skin pigmentation in humans; it is automatically interpreted as a disease. Mutations in the ASIP genes are diseases in humans because they cause severe metabolic disorders, e.g. "yellow obesity," but in cats they only cause changes in the banding of the hairs. In humans, TYR mutations cause oculocutaneous albinism and a predisposition to skin cancer, but in cats they just cause the colour-point pattern. KIT mutations in humans cause the piebaldism skin disorder and contribute to oncogenesis [the process through which healthy cells become transformed into cancer cells], but in cats it only causes white spotting. And so on.

At present, we cannot say for sure which of the many mutations affecting melanogenesis we are working with. The only thing we can confidently say is that we have only one such mutation on our gene pool, and this is the one that we first discovered in a particular British Shorthair cat, the silver chinchilla named Ermine Trace Nadeya. Thus, Ermine Trace Nadeya is the only founder of our small lineage within the British chinchilla population. All our blue-eyed and odd-eyed cats are her direct descendants, and they have no other unrelated ancestors known to be DBE latents of possible latents. This is a fundamentally important point on which the success of genetic research depends. In order to detect a new mutation, it is necessary to isolate "suspicious" DNA regions in two groups of cats: known carriers of the mutation and "wild-type" cats, in which the desired mutation is absolutely absent. The selected DNA areas are compared with each other and reveal the general differences between two groups. If the same change in the nucleotide sequence is present in the DNA of all cats in the first group, but it is not present in the "wild-type" control group, it can be assumed that this change is the mutation we are interested in. If all mutation-bearers in the first group turn out to have different mutations with a similar phenotype, then all the work of finding common differences becomes meaningless: you cannot find something that is not in the samples provided.

Now, in 2021, the first of Nadeya’s great-grandchildren (F3) were born, and her great-great-grandchildren (F4) are expected to be born soon. This is just the very beginning of our work. Unlike our DBEs, some DBEs have been studied for much longer than just 5 years. However, the genes in which the corresponding mutations are located are still unknown even to the breeders who are working with the descendants of the very first blue-eyed cats, the ancestors of the Altai breed and the Topaz breed. In addition, many do not limit themselves to working with one DBE foundation cat and its descendants, but use several blue-eyed animals of different origins in their breeding program at the same time. As a result, no breeder today can be completely sure that the DBE s/he is working with is the same as the DBE used by his predecessors. As a result, s/he may well get a cat which is not a homozygote, but which possesses two different non-allelic DBEs at the same time without knowing how the genes interact with each other. The same breeders who work with DBE, whites and bicolours (harlequins, van) at the same time cannot be at all sure that their kittens have the DBE gene, and not one of the alleles of the W series. (white and white spotting) which are well-known and where blue eyes surprise no-one.

Nevertheless, through 20 years of breeding, breeders have accumulated a huge amount of practical material, although it is still not in demand by scientists. None of the numerous attempts by breeders to initiate genetic research and identify the types of DBE at work have been successful. The only exception is the studies of DBE Ojos Azules, which were carried out by the American geneticist Solveig M.V. Pflueger in the late 1990s - early 2000s, studies that I could not find in open sources. It is possible that due to the death of the researcher they were simply lost. There was no one to continue and develop the research, and the Ojos Azules breed itself was on the verge of extinction and has been that way for many years.

The lack of a genetic test and, even worse, little progress in terms of its development, is a common problem for breeders of Altai, Topaz and other cats with DBE. The current situation seems outrageous to me; despite the fact that work with DBE is currently one of the most promising areas in felinology, for some reason, geneticists are still more interested in studying the genomes of lions and tigers or, at worst, dogs for which more than one hundred genetic tests have already been developed and new ones are constantly being developed. For cats, at best, there will be 2-3 dozen such tests, and even these often leave much to be desired in terms of their reliability, and, most surprisingly, their demand among breeders and cat-owners. Recently, I was extremely surprised to find on the website of one of the domestic laboratories a brand new test for a cat disease which the vast majority of breeders have not even heard of, let alone come across it in their work! It turns out that both time and resources were made available to search for the mutation responsible for a little-known disease, but on the other hand, there is neither time nor resources available for research which Russian and foreign breeders have been requesting for three decades, and are ready to provide not only samples for research, but also sponsorship.

The absence of a genetic test makes our work extremely difficult; in particular, it generates a lot of groundless accusations and speculation. Without a gene test, no one can reliably find out whether s/he is working with a long-known gene that someone previously introduced into the breed, or whether he has encountered a so-called de novo mutation, which may not match any of the previously known ones. It is also impossible to know for sure whether the offspring of a cat with DBE has inherited the gene and is a hidden carrier (latent). Therefore we cannot reassure those owners who dread DBE that a particular cat will not suddenly give birth to a blue-eyed or odd-eyed kitten instead of the usual green-eyed chinchillas, they would immediately give it away for free to anyone, just to rid their cattery of such a nightmare.

Considering the circumstances of Nadeya's birth (the father sired about 40 normal kittens, the mother was bred by ourselves), we have quite strong arguments in favour of the de novo mutation. Contrary to popular belief, de novo mutation is by no means a rare phenomenon and has nothing to do with "spontaneous generation" or other near-religious concepts that owners try to use when they have little understanding of the real nature of the matter. In particular, they are often dumbfounded by the excessive - in their opinion - number of DBE cases found independently first in one cattery and then in another even though the proprietors of these catteries categorically deny crossing their cats to any other breeds. As a result, conspiracy theories multiply and there are accusations of "highly secret outcrossing to cats of another breed for the sake of obtaining a commercially popular colour" as mentioned at the beginning of this article.

De novo mutations have long been well known. In human medicine, they are greatly important. There are many traits and features found in human children that are associated precisely with de novo mutations i.e. they are not inherited from the parents. In medical genetics, it has long been recommended that the term "mutation" be replaced by the more neutral term "genetic variant" as this does not carry a negative connotation. This is important and timely, as in reality most genetic variants are not harmful, but are neutral.

So there is nothing improbable in the emergence of a de novo mutation by itself, nor in the fact that de novo mutations with a similar phenotypes can occur almost simultaneously in different places and in individuals that are not closely related to each other. We add to this the fact that until the new trait became popular, the birth of such kittens was not advertised in catteries. No matter how interesting and cute the "non-standard" kitten was, it was quietly taken out of breeding and breeders tried not to spread details of its birth to their associates. However, literally over the past five years, kittens with DBE have become very much in demand. Each such kitten instantly becomes an object of mass interest on the part of breeders and owners; they no longer hide such kittens, but, on the contrary, proudly show them off. They try to find signs of the desired trait even where it does not exist; right up to the last moment they keep peering into the childish blue eyes of small kittens, hoping that this time they will be lucky and those eyes will remain blue.

Of course, we have not lost hope that sooner or later a genetic test for determining DBE will nevertheless be developed and then each of us will be able to find out exactly which mutation we are working with and which one is most convenient. We try, as far as possible, to show initiative, interacting with geneticists, to achieve at least some local research in the direction that interests us. It was in the framework of one such study that an approximately 100-nucleotide deletion was found in the PMEL gene (best known as the Merle gene in dogs) and 3 mutant positions in the PAX3 gene structure, which may be associated with the trait of interest to us. In the near future, it is also planned to analyze the MITF gene on a new batch of samples using a commercial kit for DNA isolation, which allows us to work not only with buccal epithelium, but also with hair. We also continue constantly to search for institutions, laboratories, and specialists who are ready to cooperate in the study of DBE in cats. We collect samples for research, create and maintain an electronic database of pedigrees, and store extensive illustrative material on each cat in our DBE family.

IV. Some information and statistics

To date, we have already clarified many points relating to the features of inheritance and manifestations of our DBE. In many ways, its behaviour is similar to that of other types of DBE, but there may be differences.

1. The phenotype of our DBE appears as blue- or odd-eyes, often with a small amount of white spotting. We can suspect the presence of DBE in a kitten of a non-colourpoint as soon as it opens its eyes: the pupils will glow red, as in colourpoints. Normal green-eyed, genetically black kittens without DBE will initially have no glow, and with age, they will appear green/yellow/blue, but not red. Sometimes the glow of one or both eyes can be faint and hard to spot (when it is possible to see it only in only one out of several dozen photographs); over time, this glow weakens and disappears, and the eyes do not remain blue, but change to their usual colour and acquire the usual yellow-green glow.

2. Our DBE has variable expression. This means that even if a kitten has inherited DBE, it will not necessarily be blue-eyed or odd-eyed. In heterozygotes obtained from mating a DBE cat with a non-DBE cat, we encountered the following variations in the manifestation of DBE (the table also shows the observed percentage of each phenotype to the total number of kittens with DBE). Taking into account that the percentage of DBE cats in a litter when mating a DBE heterozygote to a non-DBE cat is approximately 50%, it is possible to calculate the percentage of kittens of a certain DBE phenotype from all kittens born from such a mating: it will be exactly half the value given in the table.

3. In total, we got 53% of kittens with blue eyes, 34% were odd-eyed (of which about a fifth had sectoral heterochromia), and 14% were latents. 60% of kittens had visible white, 40% did not have visible white, and about one fifth of those these 40% are latents, which have neither visible nor blue/odd eyes.

4. Our DBE is inherited dominantly. This means that a DBE cat can be bred to any unrelated non-DBE cat, and will produce about 50% of kittens with DBE and the corresponding phenotypic traits from among the above table. In our case, out of 45 kittens obtained from mating DBE cats with ordinary cats, 21 kittens had certain signs of DBE, and 24 did not (while two of them were colourpoints, which made it impossible to confidently include them in either the DBE or non-DBE group). Even in such a small sample, the ratio is obviously classic Mendelian inheritance: mating a heterozygote for a dominant gene to a cat without the gene gives the heterozygotes and ordinary cats in a 1: 1 ratio.

5. When homozygous, our DBE appears to cause deafness. However, the data is still insufficient, since very few putative homozygotes have been obtained and we cannot 100% confirm that these are homozygotes. Therefore, we would recommend that novice breeders work with our DBE as they do with Fold: only produce heterozygotes and do not take risks until we finally figure out what can be expected here and with what probability.

6. One of the most difficult and controversial issues is the influence of DBE on the cat’s face. Such a feature does exist, however, like all other phenotypic manifestations of DBE, it varies from zero to a certain conditional indicator of "maximum expression". Our DBE in this sense is no exception.

Most often, in cats with DBE, there is a semblance of telecanthus. I will dwell on this in more detail.

Telecanthus in medicine refers to so-called minor developmental anomalies - unusual morphological features that do not have serious medical or cosmetic consequences. Unlike malformations, such anomalies are not accompanied by dysfunctions of an organ or system. Telecanthus is not a "nose bridge problem" as some breeders believe. The nose bridge of cats with telecanthus is not "depressed", nor "flattened" and in general is not deformed in any way. The reason for the development of telecanthus is the stretching and lengthening of the medial ligaments of the eyelids, which leads to a lateral (away from the middle, sideways) displacement of the inner corners of the eyes; while the interpupillary distance remains normal. In humans, this characteristic has a quantitative indicator, an index, which is calculated as the ratio of the intercanthal distance (the distance between the inner corners of the eyes) to the interpupillary. Normally, the intercanthal distance is equal to the distance from the inner to the outer corner of the eye, i.e. the width of the eye. The average interpupillary distance in humans is 60-62 mm, which corresponds to an intercanthal distance of about 30-31 mm, thus the standard value of the index is about 0.5 (considered the norm = 0.6). If the intercanthal distance is significantly greater than the width of the eye, and the index exceeds normal (> 0.6), people can talk about the presence of telecanthus. Calculations for cats have probably not been carried out, but those who wish to do so can make the first measurements and start collecting statistics right now.

In the literature, it is noted that the telecanthus tends to decrease as they grow older. Our experience fully confirms this. Most often, the telecanthus can be seen in DBE kittens at a very young age, that is, before and immediately after they open their eyes; later on, it either completely disappears, or leaves behind signs that are so subtle that they can no longer be so unambiguously associated with DBE: for example, a sloping upper eyelid, which can also periodically occur in cats without DBE.

It is not possible to accurately identify the carrier of DBE only "by the face". We tried, but failed, as it was very desirable for us to identify color points without white as carriers of DBE.

7. The behaviour, and often the very manifestation of any gene in the phenotype, depends on the genetic background i.e. non-allelic genes that interact in different ways with the gene being studied. For example, for mice, whose genetics have been thoroughly studied in great detail, for practically every known gene there is information about its behaviour in various genetic backgrounds. In working with DBE, as well as in working with Fold, any breeder seeks to select such a genetic background that would provide the optimal expression of the colour- or breed-forming gene in the phenotype. For us, this is - apart from getting real British muzzles without pronounced telecanthus, - minimizing the amount of white in the coat, and in future, the stable production of silver and gold chinchillas without white; evidence of white spots will be considered a defect, preference being given to cats without any visible white.

To begin with, the genetic background of British chinchillas is quite favourable in this respect. Chinchillas are a product of long-term selection for the absence of white in the coat (since even a simple medallion is a disqualifying trait in that breed). Even during inbreeding our chinchillas have never been seen to produce individuals with "medallions", determined, presumably, by one of the alleles of the W series (KIT gene) and sometimes found in purebred lines of solid-coloured British cats. However, for prevention, our DBE cats have been tested for all known variants of white spotting (Ws, wg) and we are constantly monitoring this situation. Probably due to a rather favourable genetic background, the amount of white spotting in our DBEs in the vast majority of cases is insignificant and is expressed, as a rule, either in the appearance of 1-4 pink toes on the hind feet, or as a white spot on the muzzle. At the moment we are faced with only one case of kittens born with full white "socks" and never got a kitten with "stockings", while kittens without visible white are born often. They differ from ordinary silver and gold chinchillas only in eye colour.

8. It is our plan to achieve not only the development of a genetic test for DBE, but also achieve the recognition of the new colour of British chinchillas associated with DBE by the leading felinological registries (blue-eyed and odd-eyed chinchillas 61 and 63). To recognize a new colour in an existing breed according to the WCF system, at least 15 individuals of the new colour must be submitted to a special commission. It is unlikely that we will be able to collect so many DBE cats on our own. Therefore, we invite the cooperation of breeders who are seriously interested in the dominant blue-eyes gene and who are prepared for accurate, competent work with it; both with us, on the basis of temporary or permanent co-ownership of cats, and independently of us in their own cattery. Naturally, in either case, we guarantee our collaborators and like-minded people all necessary advice and assistance.

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