Brindle

Brindle is a coat coloring pattern in animals, particularly dogs, cattle, guinea pigs, cats, and, rarely, horses. It is sometimes described as "tiger-striped", although the brindle pattern is more subtle than that of a tiger's coat. Brindle typically appears as black stripes on a red base. The stripes are eumelanin (black/brown pigment) and the base is phaeomelanin (red/yellow pigment), so the appearance of those pigments can be changed by any of the genes which usually affect them. Eumelanin (the pigment making up the stripes) can be affected by: merle (and harlequin), liver, dilution, greying, and recessive red. Phaeomelanin (the pigment making up the base) can be affected by: Intensity locus. White markings and ticking can occur on any brindle dog. Brindle is caused by a complex gene process and is technically a form of mosaicism, where some cells express one allele (KB) and other cells express a different allele (ky), a little like tortoiseshell cats. This makes it very difficult to test for, and there are currently no commercially available tests that are able to detect brindle. Brindle dogs will usually test as KBky, and carriers (one dominant black allele, one brindle) cannot be identified without breeding.