phenotypes for fun?!

[flapjack]

maybe i’m a weirdo, but genetics was my favorite in biology class and the subject of rabbit phenotypes is really interesting to me! so, i decided to take a stab at identifying my bunnies’ phenotypes!

maple is my chestnut agouti lionhead mix, so she was pretty easy to figure out.

A_B_C_D_E_W_

since she’s got dominant alleles in every category (agouti, black/chocolate, color completeness, color density, color extension and agouti bands) it’s impossible to tell if she’s homozygous or heterozygous in each locus.

flapjack is (as i’ve now somewhat determined) a lionhead/dwarf/perhaps dutch/??? mix and since he’s got more recessive traits, its easier to figure out!

aaBbc(h)_ddeeDudu

obviously he’s not agouti. i know he’s a Bb because i have seen his brother, who is a lilac point. he’s a pointed rabbit, so he’s c(h), but i don’t know the second allele (also this locus is confusing from what i’ve read.) he’s a blue point he is, of course, diluted. since he is pointed i think his color extension would be ee.

and that brings us to the dutch gene. i was researching and i noticed that rabbits that are vienna marked oftentimes have the little white triangle on their nose that flapjack does. however i checked out his eyes and they look to be fully brown with a slightly reddish cast (which i believe comes from his color points, as colorpointing is a mutation of the albino gene, from what a short google search told me about siamese cats). so i think he’s got some dutch rabbit in his lineage, leaving him with one Du allele and one du allele, leaving him with some abnormal markings (his little nose triangle, and one of his front feet isn’t as dark as the others.)

if anyone else on the site is a weirdo who likes genetics like me, let me know what you think of my findings and if i’m accurate or not! 

[Muchelle]

Love these things I remember reading way in the past that rabbit genetics is actually quite a mess, since they can magically sprout about 5 different fur colors.
I lost the bookmark to that site though, it was an interesting read

[Bam]

I love genetics too, but I’ve no clue about rabbit color genetics. I think forum leader LBJ10 might know at least a bit about it. My dog is an agouti GSD so no way of knowing if she’s heterozygous or homozygous for the gene. She had 2 black siblings so both parents must’ve been heterozygous for the gene.

[Muchelle]

Seems like another rabbit hole awaits us

[LBJ10]

Genotype or phenotype? You can try to guess genotype based on phenotype, but without knowing the individual’s heritage it may be impossible to tell for some things.

So color-wise, Wooly would have at for the agouti gene because he is otter patterned. Now his main body coloring is black so he would be either BB or Bb. No way to know for sure. For full color he could be CC or Cc or he could be a carrier of any number of variations (chinchilla, etc.). He isn’t dilute, so he would be DD or Dd, no way to know for sure. He could also be EE or EE or he could be a carrier of another variation. Wooly is Vienna marked, so that for sure is Vv.

So in your format (phenotype): at_ B_ C_ D_ E_ Vv

Rabbit genetics are very complicated.

[flapjack]

ah, yes, i meant possible genotype based on phenotype. 12 hours of work went to my head!

[jerseygirl]

Yeah, I get pretty lost when I read about rabbit genetics.   This is the page I usually go to if I *try* get a grasp on it. 

Rabbit Genetics

Out of my buns (living) Potamus is probably the one that would have the most unusual phenotype, I suspect. 

Her coat appears to be a dilute magpie harlequin (very muddied) but she also has shaded points. Her mum was a sable point. 

Potamus has a very slight brownish tinge to the grey on her muzzle also. So Im guessing she had the sable gene & japanese brindling gene?

I have vague memory of the ruby-cast to brown eyes being something to do with the sable gene. 

There was a magician who had a rabbit named Debbie. She has the strangest genotype, A- Br– cc Dr– Ebra–    

[LBJ10]

Oh Jersey…

[LBJ10]

Haha flapjack! I know the feeling.

[jerseygirl]

Posted By LBJ10 on 3/10/2018 9:29 PM

Oh Jersey…

I know. Terrible, wasn’t it? 

[LBJ10]

LOL

[OverthinkingBun]

Wow, I do love me some genetics and terrible jokes! Don’t know about rabbit fur colors in particular, but now I want to read up more (thanks for the link). Simple Mendelian genetics are the most straightforward, but there’s a lot more going on for complex traits in animals. It’s an oversimplification to think that traits are either dominant or recessive. Fun fact: Gregor Mendel’s research led him to hawkweeds after he worked with his famous pea plants, but their complex genetics made it impossible to get the clean results he got with his peas.

[jerseygirl]

It’s an oversimplification to think that traits are either dominant or recessive.

Yes! The sable or shading gene in rabbits is an example of this. Incomplete dominance.

The Ruby eye white colour gene is another that’s interesting, I think. How it can cover all other colour genes from being expressed. p.s. That magicians rabbit has some “questionable” (read:non-existent) genes but regardless, its a REW! ( Well, I think I have that right lol

)

[Author]

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