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This thread focuses on the E series which contains the next 4 genes
- Steel - Es allele
- Full extension - E allele
- Harlequin - ej allele
- Non extension - e allele
First i'm doing a (little) explanation on each gene with as much detail that i can bring up.
What the gene is called, what it stands for, how it's addressed within a genotype and most importantly, how it looks like.
After posting this, i hope you get the answers that you're looking for, if not feel free to ask anything and we (i or another member) will try to answer your question asap.
Lastly, i like to point out that i'm not an expert and i do not know the answer to every question..
BUT i will do my best to look for the answer within my best interests.
STARTING with explaining what each gene is and how they work
The Steel gene - Es
The steel gene has 2 different varations who express differently.
The (single) Es gene gene works by extending the undercolor all the way up the hair shaft, wiping out the ring, and eliminating the white belly on an agouti. They appear as a self rabbit with Gold Ticking. Genetically however they are NOT a self rabbit!
The best colour to use in your steel breeding program is agouti as this is the base colour that the gene best modifies, since it can ONLY show itself on a Agouti. There were NO steels without agouti's, they can ONLY express as an agouti.
Steels can come in black, blue, chocolate or lilac, and they are either gold-tipped or silver-tipped.
Double the steel gene (EsEs) and (depending on the modifiers) you may get a rabbit that is virtually black.. so dark as to overpower even the tipping. And if that's not enoughj, a double-steel with very few darkening modifiers might simply just appear as a very dark steel.
Because of its nature, the Es gene can play sneaky tricks on the breeder.
It appears to have the ability to hide, to sneak around the gene pool and crop up here and there.
If you wish to eliminate the 'Es' gene in your herd, the surest method is to test-breed to an non-extension rabbit. We know that the dominating steel gene can 'hide' and play tricks, but there's for sure no steel gene in a non-extension 'ee' rabbit. By observing the genetic makeup of the offspring, you can determine the identity of the E locus genes, and use only those animals that do not carry a steel gene.
Just know that any first generation (F1) offspring that "look" normal 'EE' agouti might actually be 'Ese' hidden steels. Continued breeding will identify the underlying genes, and you can keep the animals that no longer carry an 'Es.' and continue with them.
Summary on the Steel gene
Es_ called the Steel gene is most dominate. It makes the color at the tip of the hair shaft look like (ee) and the rest look (E_). This gene is expressed best when matched with itself (EsEs) or with Full Extention (EsE). Also it expressed best as an Agouti rather than to a self or an otter. The agouti's rings get pushed to the tips, making very flashy Gold ticking on the ends of each hair on an otherwise black rabbit. Change out the (C) gene for the chin (chld) gene and you get silver tipped Steel. Steel is often known for just showing up from no where. It can hide in plain site, called the Hidden Steel. Often when matched with the non-extension gene (Ese) you will get very light ticking, making the rabbit look black and sometimes only show light ticking on the adult animal.
[ pictures of Steels ]
Full-extension and Non-extension gene
The E/e gene controls whether the basic color on the rabbit (black, blue, chocolate, or lilac) is extended all of the way to the end of the hair shaft or whether the basic color stops and another finishes the hair shaft (such as the orange color on the back of a black tort). When a rabbit has full extension, it tends to look the same color all over, such as with a blue rabbit. When there is non-extension, such as with a black tort, the rabbit takes on a shaded look since the shorter hairs on the belly, guard hairs, feet and muzzle get only the basic color (they are not long enough to get the other color that finishes off the longer hairs).
[ pictures of full and non extension ]
The Harlequin gene - ej
The 'j' stands for Japanese brindling. When you see ej think of harlequin or tricolored. The ej gene creates the color groups Japanese, magpie, and tri-colored. When a rabbit has a harlequin genotype but not clear harlie markings, this is called brindle. In technical terms, the ej gene segregates the dark brown and yellow pigments, putting them on separate hair shafts. The ej gene only works properly on rabbits that have the agouti gene. Harlequins who are self (on the A series) are often called "torted harlequin" due to their shading who is similar of a tort.
[ picutes of harlequin, magpie, tricolor ]
SUMMARY of all 4 genes
There are four genes in the E-locus, in order from dominant to recessive
1: steel, extension of dark color (Es)
2: full colour extension (E)
3: Japanese harlequin pattern (ej)
4: extension of light colour (e)
The Es gene produces steel coloured rabbits and is actually the most dominant gene in the E serie.
This gene determines whether the colour will be extended all the way to the end of the hair shaft or if it stops at any point and another colour finishes.
When a rabbit has full-extension it appears to look the same colour all over such as the appearance of a black or a blue coloured rabbit.
However, rabbits that exhibit non-extension such as an 'tort' take on a shaded look as the shorter hairs around the stomach, feet and muzzle aren’t long enough to show the colour change within the hair shaft.
Also mind that the non extension gene with the C series gene can also result in shaded rabbits but for a completely different reason, sablepoint, frosted pearl etc.
The gene that is located between the full extension gene and the non extension gene is called the japanese harlequin gene (ej).
This gene is responsible for harlequins, magpies (shaded harlequin) and Tri-colours.
I'm stopping here on the 'explanation' part BUT i will probably edit or add text often, when i find any new information.
And now moving on to 'breaking down' of each gene in more detailed information and next 'crosses' between these genes interacting.
You may now ask questions, we will gladly help you out!
__________ Wed Aug 08, 2012 7:53 pm __________
Crosses (what do you get when you breed a ... with ...?) i'm skipping steel though, too much for me :x
Breeding full-extension to Harlequin
We have a random broken black doe we want to breed with a (solid) blue harlequin buck
First we need to know the their genotype in order to put them against each other.
Starting with the doe, which is a broken black
A series, A/at/a, which one does she get? she is self so that would be 'a', self only expressed when the gene is present twice 'aa'
So now we know she is 'aa' which means self (the agouti 'A' and otter 'at' gene are absent)
Moving on to the B series, there is 'B' and 'b' and our doe gets the 'B' who stands for black.
BUT.. we are not sure what she carries on the second allele, possibilities are BB or Bb. Let's pick 'Bb' to make it more interesting.
And now we have aaBb but we are not done yet..
Next comes the C series, also known as shaded colors.
Since she is a 'black' that would mean that she is a 'full color' and receives the 'C' allele.
If she wasn't a 'C' then she wouldn't be able to express the black color.
The shaded genes are famous for 'washing out' color until no more color is left and you have a Rew rabbit staring at you.
Next we are looking at the D series which is the most simple of them all..
Basically there are 2 options, dark coat color or dilute color.. and black is dark so that gives us the 'D' allele.
Almost done, the E series.. black would be full extension which indicates the 'E' allele.
And finally, we need the broken gene, which is 'Enen'.
And now, let's look at the alleles we got, add them all together and what do we get? aaBbC_D_E_
Oh i forgot to pick second alleles instead of the underscores.. hmm what should we do about that?
Let's fill them in with the same allele we have already picked before, resulting aaBbCCDDEE Enen
Breaking the genotype down, she is a self who is black but carries chocolate, full colored and does not carry any shaded gene, does also not carry dilute and no recessive genes are carried on the E series.
And now the buck.. blue harlequin right? :ugeek:
Not going to do the same thing as above but just gonna put something together like this.. AatBbCcddeje enen
This is getting complicated but also interesting at the same time.
So now that we exactly know what our sire and doe IS and carries, we can determine the color of their kits who are about to born.
*puts the doe in with the buck* .... a month passes and voila, we have a homemade cherrykit pie with chocolate syrup on top.. LOL
I'm sorry, just needed a quick laugh to keep this going.
*looks into the nextbox* Wow! Look at what we have got here.. CAN YOU GUESS? Let me know!
Sire: blue harlequin (AatBbCcddeje enen)
Agouti carrying otter, black carrying chocolate, full color carrying rew, dilute, harlequin carrying tort.
Doe: broken black (aaBbCCDDEE Enen)
self who is black but carries chocolate, full colored and does not carry any shaded gene, does also not carry dilute and no recessive genes are carried on the E series.
Try to identify the color of the kits and post your answers right below and i will reply to them!
Very curious to what you are going to come up with!
And also don't forget to explain it with detail and why you think that is the outcome, rather than just giving the answer.[/quote]
Good luck! Can't wait to hear what you guys come up with!
- Steel - Es allele
- Full extension - E allele
- Harlequin - ej allele
- Non extension - e allele
First i'm doing a (little) explanation on each gene with as much detail that i can bring up.
What the gene is called, what it stands for, how it's addressed within a genotype and most importantly, how it looks like.
After posting this, i hope you get the answers that you're looking for, if not feel free to ask anything and we (i or another member) will try to answer your question asap.
Lastly, i like to point out that i'm not an expert and i do not know the answer to every question..
BUT i will do my best to look for the answer within my best interests.
STARTING with explaining what each gene is and how they work
The Steel gene - Es
The steel gene has 2 different varations who express differently.
The (single) Es gene gene works by extending the undercolor all the way up the hair shaft, wiping out the ring, and eliminating the white belly on an agouti. They appear as a self rabbit with Gold Ticking. Genetically however they are NOT a self rabbit!
The best colour to use in your steel breeding program is agouti as this is the base colour that the gene best modifies, since it can ONLY show itself on a Agouti. There were NO steels without agouti's, they can ONLY express as an agouti.
Steels can come in black, blue, chocolate or lilac, and they are either gold-tipped or silver-tipped.
Double the steel gene (EsEs) and (depending on the modifiers) you may get a rabbit that is virtually black.. so dark as to overpower even the tipping. And if that's not enoughj, a double-steel with very few darkening modifiers might simply just appear as a very dark steel.
Because of its nature, the Es gene can play sneaky tricks on the breeder.
It appears to have the ability to hide, to sneak around the gene pool and crop up here and there.
If you wish to eliminate the 'Es' gene in your herd, the surest method is to test-breed to an non-extension rabbit. We know that the dominating steel gene can 'hide' and play tricks, but there's for sure no steel gene in a non-extension 'ee' rabbit. By observing the genetic makeup of the offspring, you can determine the identity of the E locus genes, and use only those animals that do not carry a steel gene.
Just know that any first generation (F1) offspring that "look" normal 'EE' agouti might actually be 'Ese' hidden steels. Continued breeding will identify the underlying genes, and you can keep the animals that no longer carry an 'Es.' and continue with them.
Summary on the Steel gene
Es_ called the Steel gene is most dominate. It makes the color at the tip of the hair shaft look like (ee) and the rest look (E_). This gene is expressed best when matched with itself (EsEs) or with Full Extention (EsE). Also it expressed best as an Agouti rather than to a self or an otter. The agouti's rings get pushed to the tips, making very flashy Gold ticking on the ends of each hair on an otherwise black rabbit. Change out the (C) gene for the chin (chld) gene and you get silver tipped Steel. Steel is often known for just showing up from no where. It can hide in plain site, called the Hidden Steel. Often when matched with the non-extension gene (Ese) you will get very light ticking, making the rabbit look black and sometimes only show light ticking on the adult animal.
[ pictures of Steels ]
Full-extension and Non-extension gene
The E/e gene controls whether the basic color on the rabbit (black, blue, chocolate, or lilac) is extended all of the way to the end of the hair shaft or whether the basic color stops and another finishes the hair shaft (such as the orange color on the back of a black tort). When a rabbit has full extension, it tends to look the same color all over, such as with a blue rabbit. When there is non-extension, such as with a black tort, the rabbit takes on a shaded look since the shorter hairs on the belly, guard hairs, feet and muzzle get only the basic color (they are not long enough to get the other color that finishes off the longer hairs).
[ pictures of full and non extension ]
The Harlequin gene - ej
The 'j' stands for Japanese brindling. When you see ej think of harlequin or tricolored. The ej gene creates the color groups Japanese, magpie, and tri-colored. When a rabbit has a harlequin genotype but not clear harlie markings, this is called brindle. In technical terms, the ej gene segregates the dark brown and yellow pigments, putting them on separate hair shafts. The ej gene only works properly on rabbits that have the agouti gene. Harlequins who are self (on the A series) are often called "torted harlequin" due to their shading who is similar of a tort.
[ picutes of harlequin, magpie, tricolor ]
SUMMARY of all 4 genes
There are four genes in the E-locus, in order from dominant to recessive
1: steel, extension of dark color (Es)
2: full colour extension (E)
3: Japanese harlequin pattern (ej)
4: extension of light colour (e)
The Es gene produces steel coloured rabbits and is actually the most dominant gene in the E serie.
This gene determines whether the colour will be extended all the way to the end of the hair shaft or if it stops at any point and another colour finishes.
When a rabbit has full-extension it appears to look the same colour all over such as the appearance of a black or a blue coloured rabbit.
However, rabbits that exhibit non-extension such as an 'tort' take on a shaded look as the shorter hairs around the stomach, feet and muzzle aren’t long enough to show the colour change within the hair shaft.
Also mind that the non extension gene with the C series gene can also result in shaded rabbits but for a completely different reason, sablepoint, frosted pearl etc.
The gene that is located between the full extension gene and the non extension gene is called the japanese harlequin gene (ej).
This gene is responsible for harlequins, magpies (shaded harlequin) and Tri-colours.
I'm stopping here on the 'explanation' part BUT i will probably edit or add text often, when i find any new information.
And now moving on to 'breaking down' of each gene in more detailed information and next 'crosses' between these genes interacting.
You may now ask questions, we will gladly help you out!
__________ Wed Aug 08, 2012 7:53 pm __________
Crosses (what do you get when you breed a ... with ...?) i'm skipping steel though, too much for me :x
Breeding full-extension to Harlequin
We have a random broken black doe we want to breed with a (solid) blue harlequin buck
First we need to know the their genotype in order to put them against each other.
Starting with the doe, which is a broken black
A series, A/at/a, which one does she get? she is self so that would be 'a', self only expressed when the gene is present twice 'aa'
So now we know she is 'aa' which means self (the agouti 'A' and otter 'at' gene are absent)
Moving on to the B series, there is 'B' and 'b' and our doe gets the 'B' who stands for black.
BUT.. we are not sure what she carries on the second allele, possibilities are BB or Bb. Let's pick 'Bb' to make it more interesting.
And now we have aaBb but we are not done yet..
Next comes the C series, also known as shaded colors.
Since she is a 'black' that would mean that she is a 'full color' and receives the 'C' allele.
If she wasn't a 'C' then she wouldn't be able to express the black color.
The shaded genes are famous for 'washing out' color until no more color is left and you have a Rew rabbit staring at you.
Next we are looking at the D series which is the most simple of them all..
Basically there are 2 options, dark coat color or dilute color.. and black is dark so that gives us the 'D' allele.
Almost done, the E series.. black would be full extension which indicates the 'E' allele.
And finally, we need the broken gene, which is 'Enen'.
And now, let's look at the alleles we got, add them all together and what do we get? aaBbC_D_E_
Oh i forgot to pick second alleles instead of the underscores.. hmm what should we do about that?
Let's fill them in with the same allele we have already picked before, resulting aaBbCCDDEE Enen
Breaking the genotype down, she is a self who is black but carries chocolate, full colored and does not carry any shaded gene, does also not carry dilute and no recessive genes are carried on the E series.
And now the buck.. blue harlequin right? :ugeek:
Not going to do the same thing as above but just gonna put something together like this.. AatBbCcddeje enen
This is getting complicated but also interesting at the same time.
So now that we exactly know what our sire and doe IS and carries, we can determine the color of their kits who are about to born.
*puts the doe in with the buck* .... a month passes and voila, we have a homemade cherrykit pie with chocolate syrup on top.. LOL
I'm sorry, just needed a quick laugh to keep this going.
*looks into the nextbox* Wow! Look at what we have got here.. CAN YOU GUESS? Let me know!
Sire: blue harlequin (AatBbCcddeje enen)
Agouti carrying otter, black carrying chocolate, full color carrying rew, dilute, harlequin carrying tort.
Doe: broken black (aaBbCCDDEE Enen)
self who is black but carries chocolate, full colored and does not carry any shaded gene, does also not carry dilute and no recessive genes are carried on the E series.
Try to identify the color of the kits and post your answers right below and i will reply to them!
Very curious to what you are going to come up with!
And also don't forget to explain it with detail and why you think that is the outcome, rather than just giving the answer.[/quote]
Good luck! Can't wait to hear what you guys come up with!
