The Silver Bengal:

 

At the moment, unfortunately, it is not yet possible to test for the color silver via DNA. This makes breeding for beautiful silver legs a bit more difficult. The silver itself is actually not a color but rather the lack of a color. This is due to the "inhibidor gene". This gene ensures that the production of pheomelanin stops, which is necessary for the production of the color / pigment.

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For breeding silver Bengals you need at least 1 and preferably 2 silver Bengals, so it is most likely that the kittens will also have a silver-colored coat.

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The inhibidor gene that causes the coat to turn silver is dominant.

 

A short explanation:

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Each parent gives 1 gene to the kitten, so it depends on which genes the parent has.
With silver Bengal there are 2 possibilities.

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A homozygous (II) silver has 2 x the silver gene present. 

A homozygous parent always gives the gene for silver to the kitten. So the kittens will be Silver

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A heterozygous (Ii) silver has 1 x the silver gene present.

If both parents are heterozygous, there is a chance that the kitten will receive the gene for brown from both parents.

 

Expressed as a percentage, 2 parents who are heterozygous are likely to have:

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- Brown kittens 25%

- Silver kittens 25% (homozygous, both parents gave the silver gene)

- Silver kittens 50% (heterozygous)

 

With 1 homozygous parent and 1 heterozygous you have a 50% chance of homozygous kittens and 50% heterozygous.

The kittens here are always silver.

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These are the possible test results:

 

• i/i = full color , no silver

• I/i = hetrozygoot silver (i.e. carrier of brown)

• I/I = homozygous silver, 2 x carrier of the silver gene

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Below are the possibilities in a diagram.