A VERY BASIC mini genetics lesson for beginners

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TinysMom

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Since it is about 3:30 am - this won't be real indepth...but it is some basic information for beginners.

There are more than these 5 basic genes that go into rabbit genetics...for example, the vienna gene, how to get brokens, etc. etc.

These are just the five basic genes that we often talk about:

  1. The "A" gene - determines the "family" the rabbit is in
    1. "A" is dominant - it is the agouti gene that creates chinchillas, chestnut agouti, etc. This is the most dominant gene.
    2. "at" is the next in dominance. This is the tan family and it is where we get the martens, the otters and the tans. If your rabbit is one of these - you know for sure that it does not carry the "A" agouti gene.
    3. The final gene is the "a" gene which is the self gene. This is where you get your blacks/blues/chocolates and lilacs.
      1. Every rabbit carries two genes in the "A" spot. They will show the dominant gene but it is possible that they have a different gene in the second spot. For instance -an agouti rabbit could be an "A", "A" - or an "A", "at" - or an "A","a'". If this agouti rabbit was the last one and bred to a self rabbit (black for instance) - then the babies could turn out to be solid black because the agouti is "A", "a" and the other parent is "a", "a".
  2. The "B" gene determines whether a rabbit is black or brown.
    1. "B" is the black rabbit. (This also includes rabbits like torts, etc. because the shading may not allow them to show the black..but genetically they carry the black gene).
    2. "b" is the chocolate rabbit. In order for a rabbit to be chocolate (or lilac which will be covered later) it must be "b, b" in its genetic lineup since the chocolate is a recessive gene.
  3. The "D" gene determines the density of the coat color. We also talk about this when we talk about "dilutes".
    1. "D" means that the rabbit shows its full color. A black rabbit will be black (if it is a self rabbit - meaning an "a" rabbit). A chocolate rabbit will be chocolate.
    2. "d" means that the color is diluted. A black rabbit that has TWO "d" genes - will not be black - but blue. A chocolate rabbit that has TWO "d" genes will be lilac.
      1. A black rabbit can be "D, d" in its genetics and throw blue babies if bred to another rabbit that is either "D,d" or "d,d". However - the rabbit will look black even though it carries the genes to throw blue.
      2. A chocolate rabbit is the same as above - it can look chocolate and throw lilacs if it is bred to another rabbit that carries the dilute gene.
      3. SPECIAL NOTE: A black rabbit that does not carry chocolate but throws blues - can NOT throw a chocolate or lilac baby even though it carries the dilute gene. It is limited to the black/blue gene pool.
For the "C" and "E" genes - I'm going to attach a link. I've never been great with these genes. But the C gene determines saturation of color and the "E" gene determines extension....

Here are a couple of links to help:

Rabbit Genetics

Understanding color genes
 
Omg I think I see letters swirling around. It's alot to take in. Kinda like math. Thanks for posting this. I knew otter was a strong gene and sometimes can take over the S.m. Gene.
 
I ment that if you breed Silver marten ND to a otter that the otter gene is strong and that most kits cone out otter. I read it but could be wrong.
 
I know at is the genotype for otter, but is it the geno for all varieties of otter??

The en geno is lacking with description. EN is my favorite of the genetic info. It's so interesting:D
 
I have no clue. Everything is new for me. Also the net has conflicting info. I plan on breeding Sarah and Bell to Loaki and he's a S.M. I was hoping to get more silver martens and not just otters. What's my chances?
 
My breeds don't deal with the silver marten coloring. You can ask Emily S of Silver Star Rabbitry. What's the genotype and I can do a punnet square for you
 
LindyS wrote:
I have no clue. Everything is new for me. Also the net has conflicting info. I plan on breeding Sarah and Bell to Loaki and he's a S.M. I was hoping to get more silver martens and not just otters. What's my chances?
It is very possible to get more silver martens, I breed silver marten and otter netherland dwarfs. For me it has come out that when you breed a silver marten to an otter there are more otter babies but there are a pretty good ratio of silver marten babies as well. For example, in a litter of 5 last year I got 3 otters and 2 silver martens. Sometimes it even comes out 50/50. If you breed a silver marten to a silver marten you can't get otters, so if you get another silver marten then you will get all silver martens. Hope this helps a bit :)
 
TinysMom wrote:
What is the S.m. gene?
I am sure she is referring to the chinchilla gene, c[sup]chd[/sup], that causes the silver marten coloring by taking out the yellow from an otter.
 
CCWelch wrote:
Looked at the chart, she does not even scratch the surface. What about coat types (rex,satin,angora etc)?
The only thing we were particularly concerned with was coat color genetics, not all of rabbit genetics. I guess it would have been good to specify that. Something about fur types would be very interesting though.
 
CCWelch wrote:
Looked at the chart, she does not even scratch the surface. What about coat types (rex,satin,angora etc)?
I guess that was why I called this a VERY BASIC mini lesson.

It was mainly to help folks learn some of the basics of color families, dilutes, etc.


 
TinysMom, I did not mean your chart, what you covered is wonderful, I followed to one of your posted websites and looked at a more in depth chart.
 
Ah...gotcha. Well - there are other sites out there - I mainly tried to pick a couple that would be fairly easy for the color genetics - specifically the "c" and "e" genes which I have a hard time explaining.
 
Bravo! Nicely done chart.

I agree. C & E genes are hard to figure.

The "steel" gene is probably the "flakiest" of all in effect. Blehh!

My favorite basic rabbit color book is "Color Genetics of The Netherland Dwarf Rabbit" by Bobby Schott. Don't buy it from Amazon! You can buy it from KW Cages for about $15.00 plus shipping.

ND rabbit color genetics are pretty much the same for all breeds, different names sometimes.

Also add Pam Nock's site for color genetics reference.
http://nockrabbits.com/

Have a good day!
 

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