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Genetics

Basic Genetics

There are five main sets of genes that will determine how your rabbit appears. Each parent will pass on one of its set of genes to its off-spring.

There is an order of dominance in each set of genes.

When a dominant gene is present over a less dominant gene this will show as the phenotype (the colour we see) the less dominant gene, if present, will only be shown by test breeding.

Below the most dominant gene is at the top of the list the most recessive at the bottom.

A Locus
(Pattern)
A
Will show agouti and chinchilla varieties.
 
The pattern is full yellow along the entire shaft and the black is seen at the base, middle and tip.
 
at

Will show otter, fox and marten.

Assuming we are talking about a black otter, on the upper body the shaft is entirely yellow then overlaid with black. Where the black meets the white the (lower body) the fur is not overlaid with black thus exposing the yellow. The 'at' pattern also dictates that the white areas only carry black at the base of the hair shaft.
a

 

Will show self and shaded self varieties

B Locus

(Black/Brown pigmentation)
B
 
Black hair
b
 
Brown hair (chocolate)

C Locus
Strength of pigmentation of yellow/black in the hair
C
Agouti colour with full black and yellow.
 
The 'C' series controls the amount of pigment in the hair shaft. 'C' is full colour exhibiting full black (4 units) and full yellow (3 units).
cchd
Dark Chin, removes yellow and will show Chinchilla.
 
(4 units of black and 1 yellow unit are expressed in the hair shft).
cchl
Light Chin, all yellow is removed and the strength of the black is weakened to a sepia colour e.g. Sealpoint
 
(2 units of black are expressed on the hair shaft and no yellow).

ch

Himalayan.
 
No matter what the colour it will only show on the points as in Californian/Himalayan.

c
Red Eye White (Albino)
 
This is known as a coloured rabbit wearing a white coat (Phenotype). Suffice it to know  you would need to test breed it to discover any of 24+ genotypes which is being masked!

D Locus
Dilution or the full strength of hair colour
D

Full strength of colour i.e. Black/Brown
d
Dilution of colour i.e. Blue/Lilac

E Locus
Expresses the extension of the black pigment in the hair
Es

Super extension (steel) enhances black
E
Normal amounts of black (agouti/chin/self)
ej
Brindling (harlequin/magpie)

  ee

Non extension of black (choc tort/sooty fawn/orange etc)

The sable gene...the tricky one!

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 and the points.

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.


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 rabbits shading can be influenced by what accompanies the sable (cchl) gene.
 
For an example I will use a siamese sable....

-a dark sable is expressed by two doses of the sable gene aaBB'cchl, cchl'DDEE

-a medium or light sable is expressed by one dose of sable 'chl' and one dose of albino 'c', aaBB'cchl, c'DDEE

-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
 
People often 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. Quite often I hear people complaining that they only ever get litters out of rew, when all they wanted was a nice sable or seal point. 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
-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 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 banging on doing a seal point x seal point matings or similar and getting out rew 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 sable no-no's which you should try and stick too. 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.

piccomingsoon.jpg

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).

agoutiandrufus.jpg

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.

fawncomparison.jpg

You will see that the frosted has an abundance of white hairs.

 

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.
  • Frosted kits end up with the best quality of colour.
  • 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.

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