Missouri active project
The University of Missouri Feline Genetics and Comparative Medicine Laboratory publicly lists “Transylvanian cats – defining the Karpati coloration and pattern” as an active project.
Research · Health · Evidence
Science should clarify the story — not overstate it.
Independent research, peer-reviewed context and the project’s recovered laboratory record are presented separately. The causal variant behind the Carpati phenotype remains unresolved.
Public record first
The strongest scientific claims now lead back to an identifiable source.
The University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine lists “Transylvanian cats – defining the Karpati coloration and pattern” among active projects of its Feline Genetics and Comparative Medicine Laboratory.
In breeder-testing guidance published on the University of Missouri laboratory website, Dr. Leslie A. Lyons explicitly names Transylvanian among new breeds for which broad genetic-test monitoring can help document healthy foundation lines. That page identifies the recommendations as Dr. Lyons’s personal guidance. It supports the testing rationale; it is not peer-reviewed validation of the breed, breed standard or WCF recognition.
Evidence status
What is independently documented — and what remains open.
Each statement is labelled by the type of evidence supporting it.
Primary laboratory evidence
The Paw Print Genetics archive.
All twelve recovered certificates identify Paw Print Genetics, Spokane, Washington as the testing laboratory. Eight reports are dated 30 May 2022 and four are dated 6 March 2023. Each is a seven-page CatScan report.
Across all twelve recovered reports, the C-locus result is C/C — “Non-pointed coat”, with the tested Siamese, Burmese and albino variants absent. This supports excluding those conventional C-locus pointing variants in the tested cats; it does not identify the Carpati mutation.
| Cat | Report date | Lab # | C-locus | Original report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Azuga | 30 May 2022 | 308406 | C/C · Non-pointed | View redacted PDF |
| Cozia | 30 May 2022 | 308405 | C/C · Non-pointed | View redacted PDF |
| Dunareana | 30 May 2022 | 308404 | C/C · Non-pointed | View redacted PDF |
| Negoiu | 30 May 2022 | 308425 | C/C · Non-pointed | View redacted PDF |
| Nemteana | 30 May 2022 | 308401 | C/C · Non-pointed | View redacted PDF |
| Silva | 30 May 2022 | 308424 | C/C · Non-pointed | View redacted PDF |
| Timisoreana | 30 May 2022 | 308407 | C/C · Non-pointed | View redacted PDF |
| Ursus | 30 May 2022 | 308426 | C/C · Non-pointed | View redacted PDF |
| Engel Gold | 6 Mar 2023 | 383933 | C/C · Non-pointed | View redacted PDF |
| Erstreller | 6 Mar 2023 | 383932 | C/C · Non-pointed | View redacted PDF |
| Focal Banger | 6 Mar 2023 | 383930 | C/C · Non-pointed | View redacted PDF |
| Skol | 6 Mar 2023 | 383931 | C/C · Non-pointed | View redacted PDF |
Why the full reports are published: the panel contains many separate trait and disease results, including carrier and “no result” statuses in some certificates. We therefore do not convert these PDFs into a blanket “all clear” claim or selectively summarize only favourable rows. Paw Print’s own disclaimer states that the results relate only to the items tested, are not diagnostic, and are not a breed-identification test.
The 2026 breed-recognition presentation states that all foundation cats were tested for more than 120 genetic traits and health conditions. The recovered certificates are now the underlying laboratory record available to this project. Because panel versions and the way variants are counted can differ, this site keeps the “120+” wording explicitly attributed to the 2026 presentation rather than independently recalculating that number from the PDFs.
Peer-reviewed context
Prof. Leslie A. Lyons
Prof. Lyons, University of Missouri, is a co-author of the 2024 Animal Genetics paper on the Finnish salmiak phenotype. That paper also reports testing of two Karpati-pattern cats — one from Romania and one from the United Kingdom — and confirms that the salmiak allele was absent in both.
The paper does not identify those cats as Transylvanian and does not study or validate the Transylvanian breed as a breed. The direct institutional link is Missouri’s active-project listing for Transylvanian cats and Karpati.
Read the 2024 paper
Parallel research track · Lyon
Prof. Marie Abitbol
Prof. Marie Abitbol is a genetics teacher-researcher at VetAgro Sup’s Lyon Veterinary Campus. The project’s contemporaneous record from 27 November 2024 documents a call for DNA samples from cats showing the Karpati phenotype specifically to help identify the causal gene. That notice described Abitbol as working “in tandem” with Prof. Leslie Lyons and encouraged owners to send samples to both teams.
This is evidence of an active, coordinated research effort; it is not a claim that either laboratory has already identified the causal variant.
VetAgro Sup · Marie AbitbolBoundary of the evidence
What we do not claim.
There is currently no peer-reviewed paper principally about the Transylvanian breed, no published paper validating its breed standard or WCF recognition, and no published identification of the causal Carpati variant.
In a February 2026 TVR report, Prof. Lyons publicly discussed genetic testing and genome sequencing carried out on these cats. That is useful direct public testimony, but remains distinct from peer-reviewed publication.
TVR · February 2026What the evidence currently establishes
Known, documented, and separately sourced.
- The Carpati phenotype is a naturally occurring coat phenotype under active genetic study.
- WCF approved the Carpati mutation for Championship competition on 23 August 2026 with 67 votes out of 88, exclusively in the Transylvanian breed.
- The University of Missouri / The Lyons’ Den publicly lists an active Transylvanian / Karpati project; Prof. Marie Abitbol at VetAgro Sup is also part of the documented sampling/research record.
- The 2024 Animal Genetics comparison found the known salmiak allele absent in the tested Karpati-pattern cats, so that allele does not explain those tested cases.
- The recovered CatScan reports exclude the tested Siamese, Burmese and albino C-locus variants in the twelve reported cats.
What has not yet been established
Recognition does not close the genetic questions.
- The causal Carpati gene or variant.
- A definitive inheritance mode.
- A proven temperature-sensitive mechanism.
- A systematically mapped geographic range.
- Breed-wide absence of hereditary disease.
Editorial principle
Credibility comes from being precise about uncertainty.
01
A visual resemblance such as “reverse-point” is not a genetic mechanism. The recovered CatScan reports exclude the conventional tested C-locus pointing variants in those cats, but do not identify the Carpati cause.
02
Peer-reviewed evidence about Karpati-pattern cats is not presented as scientific validation of the Transylvanian breed itself.
03
Independent institutional records, peer-reviewed research, project documents and hypotheses are labelled separately.
04
Original laboratory reports are published with privacy redactions rather than replaced by a marketing summary.
Evidence register · v2.0
Follow every major claim back to its source.
WCF records, research links, project documents, laboratory reports and independent media are collected in one reference page.
Science & Genetics · evidence version 4.0Last reviewed: 23 August 2026