Locally associated alleles of cat coat genes

Published allele frequencies of coat genes from 204 cat (Felis catus) populations all over the world are studied by means of correlation and principal component analyses. Locally associated groups of alleles with correlated frequencies are revealed [the (0, d, I, W), (a, tb), and (S) allele groups]. The phenomenon must have resulted from the parallel action of local selection vectors on a worldwide scale. In particular, the (0, d, I, W)-group is formed by the vector of artificial selection. It is shown that principal component analysis facilitates revealing of such associated alleles connected by moderate correlation. This analysis also allows us to classify the populations by plotting them in two-dimensional space of two main components containing the most part of the total allele frequency variance.