The mystery of ginger cats has finally been solved by DNA

Ginger cat lovers have long wondered how their feline friends came to have such unique colouring.

The incredible appearance has been made famous in pop culture by the likes of Garfield, Puss in Boots and Toulouse in The Aristocats, not to mention Crookshanks in the Harry Potter series.

It isn't just their colouring that makes them so revered, but their affectionate and cheeky personalities.

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Now, the mystery of the ginger cat has been solved in a new study.

It turns out ginger cats are missing a section of their genetic code, so their colouring, including their skin and eyes and fur, comes out lighter, BBC reports.

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The research, which was crowdfunded by a group of cat lovers, was led by two teams of scientists at Kyushu University in Japan and Stanford University in the US.

The results have been published in the scientific journal Current Biology. The name of the DNA code missing from ginger cats is called the ARHGAP36 gene.

Scientists also found that ginger cats are more likely to be male, as the gene is carried on the X chromosome.

When this piece of DNA is missing on the X chromosome, it results in a ginger cat, which is more likely in males as they only have one X chromosome as an XY male.

The DNA has to be missing on both X chromosomes in female cats for a pure ginger to result.

Female ginger cats are therefore more likely to be of mixed colour.

"These ginger and black patches form because, early in development, one X chromosome in each cell is randomly switched off," Professor Hiroyuki Sasaki, a geneticist at Kyushu University, said

"As cells divide, this creates areas with different active coat colour genes, resulting in distinct patches."

Professor Sasaki is also a cat lover, and his motivation for this study was helping to find a way to help cats overcome diseases.

"Many cat owners swear by the idea that different coat colours and patterns are linked with different personalities," he said.

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"There's no scientific evidence for this yet, but it's an intriguing idea and one I'd love to explore further."

Ginger cats often have amber or gold eyes. Gingers with green or blue eyes are particularly rare.

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Ginger cats also carry the tabby gene, according to Cats.com.

The five different tabby patterns seen in ginger cats are Classic, Mackerel, Spotted, Ticked and Patched.

Ginger cats have been described as friendly and affectionate, cheeky and a little greedy. Although their robust appearances could be explained by their thick fur.

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