Using Genetics to Find Spark's Other Parent
Jan 13, 2023 17:03:25 GMT -5
Violet111, Void, and 6 more like this
Post by Blue on Jan 13, 2023 17:03:25 GMT -5
Hello.
I'm not a genetics expert, but I'm bored and tired of drawing for my newest mod.
So Ember is one of Spark's parents. Who's the other?
For the sake of simplification, since Ember is not marriageable in the original Cattails, we will not assume that the player and their many pelts are a candidate. We will also assume that Ember has remained loyal to the Forest Colony, so all candidates will be from there. We will also assume that it's not one of the randomly generated NPCs. That would be boring.
So, that leaves us with six suspects-Doc, Lyrus, Mayor, Missy, Sarge, and Scout.
...
First, let's discuss exactly how genetics work, and how they work in cats. I am not an expert and I probably have some things wrong, but as far as my understanding goes...
Everyone has two sets of chromosomes, one from their mother, and one from their father. There are also sex chromosomes that determine gender. For a lot of species, XX is female, and XY is male. The mother will always pass on an X chromosome, but the father will either pass on an X or a Y chromosome. (So, yes, the father technically chooses the gender of his children. Sorry Henry VIII.)
So cat pelt colors work in an interesting way. There's three main colors-orange, black, and white. White is its own weird thing, but orange and black both are tied to the X chromosome. (This is why just about all the torties and calicos you see are female!)
Black is also responsible for multiple colors. Black is not just black-it is also chocolate and cinnamon.
Dilution is recessive, and it turns black into grey/blue, chocolate into lilac, cinnamon into fawn, and orange into cream.
...
So basically, Spark has inherited Ember's X chromosome, and orange pelt with that. Spark is also dilute.
Since Spark doesn't have any white on them, I think Missy is the least likely to be Spark's other parent. But the others...this will get tricky. Since we don't know Ember or Spark's genders, we will have to calculate for all four possibilities.
Ember is Female, Spark is Male
This is the set I find most likely. But anyone can be Spark's parent. Since Ember passes on Spark's only X chromosome, it doesn't really matter whether Spark's other parent is black or orange. All of them can carry the recessive gene for dilute fur, although Doc, Lyrus, and Mayor are dilute, so they're more likely to pass on the dilute gene onto Spark.
Ember is Female, Spark is Female
So Spark has two X chromosomes, one from Ember and one from the other parent. If their other parent was Doc or Lyrus, then they'd have grey. And if their other parent was Sarge or Scout, they'd have chocolate or cinnamon. But they do not-Spark is not a calico. The only cat that works is Mayor.
Ember is Male, Spark is Male
So Spark is no longer orange because of Ember's X chromosome. Spark would have to be orange because of the other parent. The only possibility could be Mayor, since Doc, Lyrus, Sarge, and Scout all have the black gene instead.
Ember is Male, Spark is Female
Spark is again orange because of Ember's X chromosome. But Spark still isn't a calico. The only cat that works is still Mayor.
...
So in conclusion, the chances of each cat being Spark's other parent...
Mayor-~95%
Doc-~25%
Lyrus-~25%
Sarge-~12%
Scout-~12%
Missy-~5%
I hope this was an entertaining read.
I'm not a genetics expert, but I'm bored and tired of drawing for my newest mod.
So Ember is one of Spark's parents. Who's the other?
For the sake of simplification, since Ember is not marriageable in the original Cattails, we will not assume that the player and their many pelts are a candidate. We will also assume that Ember has remained loyal to the Forest Colony, so all candidates will be from there. We will also assume that it's not one of the randomly generated NPCs. That would be boring.
So, that leaves us with six suspects-Doc, Lyrus, Mayor, Missy, Sarge, and Scout.
...
First, let's discuss exactly how genetics work, and how they work in cats. I am not an expert and I probably have some things wrong, but as far as my understanding goes...
Everyone has two sets of chromosomes, one from their mother, and one from their father. There are also sex chromosomes that determine gender. For a lot of species, XX is female, and XY is male. The mother will always pass on an X chromosome, but the father will either pass on an X or a Y chromosome. (So, yes, the father technically chooses the gender of his children. Sorry Henry VIII.)
So cat pelt colors work in an interesting way. There's three main colors-orange, black, and white. White is its own weird thing, but orange and black both are tied to the X chromosome. (This is why just about all the torties and calicos you see are female!)
Black is also responsible for multiple colors. Black is not just black-it is also chocolate and cinnamon.
Dilution is recessive, and it turns black into grey/blue, chocolate into lilac, cinnamon into fawn, and orange into cream.
...
So basically, Spark has inherited Ember's X chromosome, and orange pelt with that. Spark is also dilute.
Since Spark doesn't have any white on them, I think Missy is the least likely to be Spark's other parent. But the others...this will get tricky. Since we don't know Ember or Spark's genders, we will have to calculate for all four possibilities.
Ember is Female, Spark is Male
This is the set I find most likely. But anyone can be Spark's parent. Since Ember passes on Spark's only X chromosome, it doesn't really matter whether Spark's other parent is black or orange. All of them can carry the recessive gene for dilute fur, although Doc, Lyrus, and Mayor are dilute, so they're more likely to pass on the dilute gene onto Spark.
Ember is Female, Spark is Female
So Spark has two X chromosomes, one from Ember and one from the other parent. If their other parent was Doc or Lyrus, then they'd have grey. And if their other parent was Sarge or Scout, they'd have chocolate or cinnamon. But they do not-Spark is not a calico. The only cat that works is Mayor.
Ember is Male, Spark is Male
So Spark is no longer orange because of Ember's X chromosome. Spark would have to be orange because of the other parent. The only possibility could be Mayor, since Doc, Lyrus, Sarge, and Scout all have the black gene instead.
Ember is Male, Spark is Female
Spark is again orange because of Ember's X chromosome. But Spark still isn't a calico. The only cat that works is still Mayor.
...
So in conclusion, the chances of each cat being Spark's other parent...
Mayor-~95%
Doc-~25%
Lyrus-~25%
Sarge-~12%
Scout-~12%
Missy-~5%
I hope this was an entertaining read.
