A brief review of the genes controlling coyote coat colors. The photos of coyotes on this webpage were not the coyotoes actually DNA tested for the coat color they illustrate, contrary to my dog and cattle webpages. This is not ideal, but since I did not do all this research, it's the best I could do.

The photo shows a wild coyote emerging from the woods beyond our house in the country near Saskatoon on 1 March 2023. It illustrates the tawny coloration that is typical of most coyotes.

Coyotes have an extremely wide geographical range but do not seem to have as much coat color variation as the wolf or dog.

ASIP

In a DNA study of the agouti signal protein gene (ASIP) in coyotes, wolves, and dogs we found that there was one base pair difference in exon 4 between the coyote and wolf. However, because this base pair change did not change the amino acid, it probably has not effect on the peptide or coat color. The dog has mutations in exon 4 that affect coat color and so these could be used to prove that there are coydogs, or coyote dog hybrids.

A study by Brockerville et al. (2013) found a polymorphism in coyotes in the 5' region of ASIP, and another in an intron near exon 2.

The photo at the right was taken in March 2018. It is a female coyote near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan that was quite pale.

A recent study of coyotes from Newfoundland and Labrador involved the MC1R gene. Some very pale, almost white coyotes had been observed. The authors found that the dog mutation Arg306ter, commonly known as the "e" allele was homozyougs in these coyotes. They concluded that this allele was the result of dog-coyote hybridization.

The photograph is a mounted specimen on display at the Salmonier Nature Park in Newfoundlnad, which the authors say is an example of such coyote. Photo by Michael Blackwood.

They also found additional polymorphisms, including some that changed amino acids, but none were associated with the very pale coat color. Two, F45L and G102A, have not been observed in dogs.