Although few studies have been done to link this to genes known to be involved in human Waardenburg syndrome, a genetic disruption to neural crest development would lead to this presentation in cats as well. One of the genes that leads to deafness and a white coat in cats when mutated, KIT, has been found to increase MITF expression.Lethal white syndrome is a syndrome in horses caused by mutations in both copies of EDNRB. It leads to death from intestinal pseudo-obstruction due to Hirschsprungs disease. A mutation in a single copy of EDNRB, however, as in Waardenburg syndrome type 4A, produces the patchy white overo coat with deafness.Ferrets with Waardenburg syndrome have a small white stripe along the top or back of the head and sometimes down the back of the neck (known as a "blaze" coat pattern), or a solid-white head from nose to shoulders (known as a "panda" coat pattern). Affected ferrets often have a very slightly flatter skull and wider-set eyes than healthy ferrets. As healthy ferrets have poor hearing, deafness may only be detected by lack of reaction to loud noises. As this is an inherited disorder, affected animals should not be used for breeding. A study of the correlation between coat variations and deafness in European ferrets found, "All (n=27) panda, American panda, and blaze ferrets were deaf."
Facial symmetry is one specific measure of bodily symmetry. Along with traits such as averageness and youthfulness it influences judgments of aesthetic traits of physical attractiveness and beauty. For instance, in mate selection, people have been shown to have a preference for symmetry.Facial bilateral symmetry is typically defined as fluctuating asymmetry of the face comparing random differences in facial features of the two sides of the face. The human face also has systematic, directional asymmetry: on average, the face (mouth, nose and eyes) sits systematically to the left with respect to the axis through the ears, the so-called aurofacial asymmetry. Directional asymmetry
Directional asymmetry is a systematic asymmetry of some parts of the face across the population. A theory of directional asymmetries in the human body is the axial twist hypothesis. As predicted by this theory, the eyes, nose and mouth are, on average, located slightly to the left of the axis through the ears. This aurofacial asymmetry is very small in young adults (0.5 degree), but much larger in small children (4 degrees). Fluctuating asymmetry
Fluctuating asymmetry is the non-systematic variation of individual facial landmarks with respect to the facial midline, i.e., the line perpendicular to the line through the eyes, which crosses the tip of the nose and the chin. A wide variety of methods have been used to examine the claim that facial symmetry plays a role in judgments of beauty. Blending of multiple faces to create a composite and face-half mirroring have been among the techniques used.