Study
The genetic basis of white tigers
Xu, X.; Dong, G.-X.; Hu, X.-S.; Miao, L.; Zhang, X.-L.; Zhang, D.-L.; Yang, H.-D.; Zhang, T.-Y.; Zou, Z.-T.; Zhang, T.-T.; Zhuang, Y.; Bhak, J.; Cho, Y. S.; Dai, W.-T.; Jiang, T.-J.; Xie, C.; Li, R.; Luo, S.-J.
Current Biology, 2013
A family of captive tigers containing both orange and white individuals was mapped genetically, and candidate regions were sequenced to identify the causal change.
- Studied in
- Panthera tigris
- Sample size
- 16 tigers from a pedigreed family, whole genomes plus wider panel
White tigers carry a single amino-acid change in the pigment gene SLC45A2, inherited recessively. It removes the red-yellow pigment while leaving the black stripes and the eyes unaffected. It is a colour variant of the ordinary Bengal tiger, not a subspecies, not an albino, and not a separate kind of animal.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
The white tiger phenotype results from a single recessive point mutation in SLC45A2, a natural variant that occurred historically in wild Bengal tigers.
How NatureHQ reads it
The genetics dispose of the "separate species" claim completely, and they also complicate the ethical argument in a way worth stating carefully. The variant is natural and was recorded in wild tigers. What is not natural is its frequency in captivity, which exists only because every white tiger alive descends from a very small number of animals bred repeatedly to each other. The health problems associated with white tigers come from that inbreeding, not from the colour gene, and conflating the two gets both the biology and the welfare argument wrong.
- The mapping family is captive and closely related, which is what made the mapping possible and limits what it says about wild frequencies.
- Identifies the pigment variant; does not measure the fitness consequences of white coat colour in the wild.
- Says nothing directly about the inbreeding load carried by the captive white population.
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.
Published by: Cell PressPublished in a Cell Press journal.
doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2013.04.054
This reference was resolved automatically against Crossref on 2026-08-11.
NatureHQ summarises research in its own words and does not reproduce published text. Reviewed 2026-08-11.