The Sable Gene
Light chinchilloration 'cchl', commonly refered to as the sable gene is the all important gene in creating
some of the popular and highly sought after pretty colours such as sable, smoke, seal point and blue point.
The sable gene when paired correctly is the difference between a black rabbit and a sable
rabbit. The sable gene is also responsible for the rusty brown/ yellow sepia colour that can often be seen as a faint sheen
all over the rabbit. A sable based rabbit will typically have a ruby glow to they eye, this could range from vivid
through to subtle.
Sable is a gene that sits
on the C Locus along with chin, himi and albino (rew).
The order
of dominance, with very simple explaination, is as follows
C- Full black and yellow
cchd- Chin
cchl-
Sable
ch- Himi
c- Albino
The sable based rabbits shadings can be influenced by what
accompanies the sable (cchl) gene.
For an example a siamese sable with two doses of the sable gene
aaBB'cchl, cchl'DDEE is noticeably darker and thus called dark sables.
However when sable
is accompanied by albino 'c', aaBB'cchl, c'DDEE, the rabbits shading are lighter, these are
called medium or light sables.
Another gene that can affect sable is the himi gene 'ch'. When paired with sable
it can result in medium or dark sable but not light aaBB'cchl, ch'DDEE.
According to the
BRC website a DARK smoke is unstandardised aaBB'cchl, cchl'ddEE. This is where
the albino (red eyed white) gene is important as it shades the sable correctly, making a dark smoke into a medium or light
smoke aaBB'cchl, c'ddEE which is showable.
People can find working with sable frustrating as it also goes hand in hand with albino. Albino must in most instances accompany
the sable gene in order to give the correct or desired shade, for example, seal
points, blue points, siamese and marten smokes.
Breeders often complain they get high percentages of
red eyed whites in their litters, when the desired outcome is a sable based rabbit. However rew rabbits that have come from
matings such as these are very valueable.
For example a seal point
x seal point mating will throw a few different colours, seal point aaBBcchlcDDee,
rew aaBBccDDee and dark seal point aaBBcchlcchlDDee.
So from this you
can see that there is only a 1/3 chance of getting the desired colour (seal point).
Dark seal point is also an undstandardised colour, although it's not completely unheard of for exhibitors
to show dark seal points claiming they are seal points or iron greys.
A rew from a mating such as above can prove
really valuable if used correctly. Instead of persisting with seal point x seal point matings or similar and producing rews
or double sable unstandardised colours, why not retain a double sable rabbit, for example a dark seal point and a rew (seal
point x seal point bred) and mate them together. The result being 100% seal points!
Smokes and blue points are another that this will apply too as dark smokes and dark blue points are also unstandardised.
There are a few rules that it is best to stick to when breeding sables. Firstly, never mix CHOCOLATE or
AGOUTI into your sables as it will eventually end up throwing you a load of very pretty but unstandarised
colours.
For example ghost chins (ABcchlDE), frostie points (ABcchlDee) and chocolate sables (aabbcchlcchlDE).
Harlies, Magpies and Tri's.
What sets yours apart?
All to often I see people on forums with one harlie or similar
wanting to find a compatible rabbit in their herd to mate it to, to reproduce more of the same colour.
This pattern group are the most popular
in pets shops by far, or at least the ones that will sell the fastest.
But what can you do to ensure that your harlies, magpies and tri's are not just pet quality?
Before
you begin a basic knowledge of rabbit genetics is desirable. If not have a read anyway and ignore the 'abcdefg.....'
(as some put it) as you should still be able to grasp the basics.
The japanese brindling gene is
responsible for magpies harlies and tris, it basically creates a striped/ block effect. This gene sits on the E Locus. A brief
explaination of the Locus below.
The E series very simply governs the distribution of black
(or what ever colour is being displayed in its place ie blue, choc, lilac)
In order of dominance
Es- A steel rabbit (more than the normal amount of black).
E-normal distribution as in self, agouti or otter/ marten.
ej- japaneese brindling creating a striped/ block effect
e- restriction to points in self (sooty fawn, seal point ect),
near removal in agouti (orange/ fawn)
Starting with the simplest
HARLIE (Black and Orange) AABBCCDDejej
So we have already established that you will
need your most dominant allele on the E Locus to be ej (japanese brindle).
Next it is important to use an agouti patterned rabbit, however this will need to be either a rabbit already expressing
japaneese brindling or a non extension agouti, this could be orange AABBCCDDee, Fawn AABBCCddee ect..... Using agouti non extension rabbits as opposed to self non extension rabbits (sooty,
beige etc) defines the pattern, making it a lot sharper and enhances the orange colouring. Using a self non extension rabbit
often results in wishy washy boring specimens.
Recap: Best compatability orange, fawn,
choc fawn (wheaten)
Moving onto MAGPIES (Black and White) AABBcchdcchdDDejej
The
difference you will notice from Harlie to Magpie is what is going on with the C Locus. 'cchd' or 'the (dark) chin
gene' strips away the orange colouring and replaces it with white.
Here is a brief explanation of the C Series which governs
black and yellow pigmentation.
C-Full expression of black and yellow pigmentation
cchd- dark chinchilla, think chins, black and white only
cchl- light chinchilla, think sable
(yellow/ sepia more evident) but mainly black and white
ch- himi, extreme and dramatic restriction to points
c- albino or red eyed white (completely
white)
It
is important not to deviate away from using dark chin (cchd) in this instance. I have seen sable magpies and they just look
mucky, exhibiting shades of brown and sepia.
Recap: Best compatability Frostie Point/ Ghost Chin
Last but not least Tris AABBCCDDejej
Enen
The
difference between a harlie and a tri is quite simply the butterfly gene (or broken as some may call it). By adding the butterfly
gene spotting is created.
So if you have a harlie, quite simply by putting a orange or fawn butterfly to it will create your very own tris!
An absolute no
no for tris is mixing dark chin (as found in magpies/ chins). In short don't mix your magpies with your tri's or later
on you'll regret it.
Recap: Orange butterfly, fawn butterfly or choc fawn/ wheaten butterfly + harlie= tris and
harlies.
Alternatively for 100% tris.....Orange/ fawn/ choc fawn charlie (EnEn) + harlie= tris!
As for getting the pattern right, your on
your own! It is said that two well marked rabbits do not necessarily create the same. Yet two poorly marked rabbits can be
put together with wonderful results. Pattern is more like the chaos theory. Please follow these links to learn more about
correct markings and variations of colour (ie blue harlie, brown harlie ect).
BRC breed description of Harlequin
BRC description of harlequin markings.
BRC description of Magpie markings.
A touch of Rufus......
Rufus latin for red,
does as you would expect and increases red pigmentation in the rabbits coat.
Here is an example of a plain orange next to a high rufus orange rabbit. As you can see the
difference is quite dramatic.
Both rabbits are genetically orange: AABBCCDDee. The difference being that one has inherited
several rufus modifiers, indicated by AABBCCDDee +++ rufus modifiers.
The rufus modifier or polygene
is a stand alone gene if you like, not reliant on a particular alelle, it merely influences a geneotype. However it is
speculated that rufus modifiers more commonly go hand in hand with chocolate/ brown.
The
inheritance of rufus follows a normal continuous variation distribution pattern, meaning that if you mated two high rufus
rabbits together theres no certainty that the resulting offspring would be high rufus, but the chances are obviously increased.
For example
plain orange AABBCCDDee
mated to high rufus orange AABBCCDDee+++ could result in any of the following
AABBCCDDee
AABBCCDDee+
AABBCCDDee++
AABBCCDDee+++
Below you will see an example of different variations of agouti and the effect rufus modifiers (basicly
red intensifier) has on it. None are extremely intense but it is interesting to see the difference if even on a small scale. Left
to right; Normal agouti butterfly (Bramble), one rufus parent (Samson) and a red agouti (Nicole).
What is the difference between an high rufus orange and a red?
A high rufus orange has a white belly and tail.
A red has a red/ orange belly and tail (belly colour changed by the wide band gene).
It's a Snow Ball!
'Snow ball' is a term used to describe a rabbit (usually a kit) with frosting.
Below
you will see an example of a clear fawn and a frosted fawn.
You will see that the frosted has an abundance of white hairs.
One myth we can crush is 'frosted kits end up with the
best colour', not true in our experience!
We would love to be able to tell you what causes this but the honest truth is we
don't know (and we can't find any info), so if you have any information or opinions please share!
What have we heard about frosted
kits? Fact or Fiction YOU DECIDE.
- Frosting usually disappears
in adolecence.
- Frosting will not dissapear if it stretches
as far as the head.
- Frosted kits occur approx 1/200.
- The longest known frosted kit kept it's frosting until it was 6 months old.
