Blue Eyes in Maine Coon cats
New at Labogen: Genetic test for Blue Eyes in the Maine Coon cat
- Laboklin was involved in a study that identified a genetic variant of the PAX3 gene as the cause of blue eyes in Maine Coon cats
- The dominant factor not only changes the eye color, but is also associated with unilateral or bilateral deafness and minimal white spotting, which is not caused by the variants already known to be responsible for white spotting.
- There are indications that the homozygous presence of the variant leads to embryonic or fetal lethality. Therefore, mating heterozygous cats to avoid deaf offspring and the unintended production of a homozygous embryo for this allele is strongly discouraged.
- A genetic test can clarify whether the presence of blue eyes is due to this variant.
