Werewolf, There Wolf: Variants in Hairless Associated with Hypotrichia and Roaning in the Lykoi Cat Breed

The study focused on the lykoi cat breed, which is characterized by a unique coat pattern known as roaning, resulting from a sparse hair coat. This phenotype is a type of hypotrichia, which is a significant reduction in hair follicles, often accompanied by follicular abnormalities and lymphocytic infiltration. Whole genome sequencing of a lykoi cat, which was a cross between two different lineages, revealed two loss of function variants in the Hairless (HR) gene when compared to a dataset of 194 non-lykoi cats. The cat was a compound heterozygote for these variants, which are predicted to produce premature stop codons. Further examination of 14 cats from the breed's founding lineages across Canada, France, and the USA identified four additional loss of function HR variants. These findings suggest that the distinct hair coat phenotype in lykoi cats is likely due to these novel variants in the HR gene, and these variants can explain the minor differences in phenotypic presentations among the cats.