In cats, tortoiseshell coat color appears in females. A tortoiseshell coat has patches of dark brown fur and patches of orange fur that each in total cover about half the body but have a unique pattern in each female. Male cats can be either dark brown or orange, but a male cat with tortoiseshell coat is rarely produced. Two sample crosses between males and females from pure-breeding lines produced the tortoiseshell females shown.
Cross I P: dark brown male × orange female
F₁: orange males and tortoiseshell females
Cross II P: orange male × dark brown female
F₁: dark brown males and tortoiseshell females
The genetics service of a large veterinary hospital gets referrals for three or four male tortoiseshell cats every year. These cats are invariably sterile and have underdeveloped testes. How are these tortoiseshell male cats produced? Why do you think they are sterile?