Post by kaley on Apr 7, 2006 20:12:33 GMT -5
I'm not clever enough to quote from another board, so I've just copied & pasted. Ryan's remarks are preceded by >
>Most of the colubrid color morphs are recessive. But, a lot of >boa and python color morphs are co-dominant or incomplete >dominant. Some are thought to be polygenic -
That is very cool! Makes things interesting!
> (First albino piebald ball python was produced just last year for >example)
Have any pics of that handy?
>He thought snake people might be able to learn a thing or two >from horse color genetics, after hearing a few of my examples >about palominos and cremello's and the agouti modifier that >only effects black horses, and has no effect on red horses.
Well, it's all basically the same sh*t, just a different pile! Most of the colour stuff we know about in dogs, or horses, or whatever comes from rodent work originally...and a lot of the original work is OLD - stuff like postulating and naming genes (not so much the actually finding them -that's pretty new!) and sorting out inheritance - it's about time the reptile folks looked at the bigger picture!
>A lot of snake people are not familiar with "lethal white" genes, >but there are rumours of some genetics throwing white babies >that are born or hatch dead, or die soon afterwards.
>Same for albino boa females. It seems only a fraction of them >are able to produce like their normal colored siblings, but it is >not openly discussed.
It's not surprising at all that "lethal white" like issues and albino reproduction problems are cropping up in these morphs. "Lethal white" issues stem from embryological development, where pigment cell travel/pathways are schmucked up other things get schmucked up along the way....There are piles of examples of colour related disorders - that really don't have much to do with the colour, but rather the shared embrological pathways...not that I understand it especially well myself!
The reproduction issues in albinos aren't surprising either- likely just some inbreeding depression starting to show up...but this also relates to embryology and physiology too...In dogs, there's a big debate about the White Dobermann's - whether they are actually albinos, and whether the eye problems, temperament problems, and myriad other health issues they have are directly related to their color - or lack of it, as it were. There are also health issues with albino cattle - so it's not surprising that the same holds for reptiles!
It's too bad that the people making these morphs aren't more willing to talk about the problems - it might make for some seriously cool research for someone! In a lot of ways snakes would be excellent research subjects for molecular colour genetics work because of their really large families...and the fact that you can inbreed quite a lot more than in mammals with less problem...
Neat topic!
Kaley
>Most of the colubrid color morphs are recessive. But, a lot of >boa and python color morphs are co-dominant or incomplete >dominant. Some are thought to be polygenic -
That is very cool! Makes things interesting!
> (First albino piebald ball python was produced just last year for >example)
Have any pics of that handy?
>He thought snake people might be able to learn a thing or two >from horse color genetics, after hearing a few of my examples >about palominos and cremello's and the agouti modifier that >only effects black horses, and has no effect on red horses.
Well, it's all basically the same sh*t, just a different pile! Most of the colour stuff we know about in dogs, or horses, or whatever comes from rodent work originally...and a lot of the original work is OLD - stuff like postulating and naming genes (not so much the actually finding them -that's pretty new!) and sorting out inheritance - it's about time the reptile folks looked at the bigger picture!
>A lot of snake people are not familiar with "lethal white" genes, >but there are rumours of some genetics throwing white babies >that are born or hatch dead, or die soon afterwards.
>Same for albino boa females. It seems only a fraction of them >are able to produce like their normal colored siblings, but it is >not openly discussed.
It's not surprising at all that "lethal white" like issues and albino reproduction problems are cropping up in these morphs. "Lethal white" issues stem from embryological development, where pigment cell travel/pathways are schmucked up other things get schmucked up along the way....There are piles of examples of colour related disorders - that really don't have much to do with the colour, but rather the shared embrological pathways...not that I understand it especially well myself!
The reproduction issues in albinos aren't surprising either- likely just some inbreeding depression starting to show up...but this also relates to embryology and physiology too...In dogs, there's a big debate about the White Dobermann's - whether they are actually albinos, and whether the eye problems, temperament problems, and myriad other health issues they have are directly related to their color - or lack of it, as it were. There are also health issues with albino cattle - so it's not surprising that the same holds for reptiles!
It's too bad that the people making these morphs aren't more willing to talk about the problems - it might make for some seriously cool research for someone! In a lot of ways snakes would be excellent research subjects for molecular colour genetics work because of their really large families...and the fact that you can inbreed quite a lot more than in mammals with less problem...
Neat topic!
Kaley
