Wow, that's sure alphabet soup genetically. There could be any number of other possible genetics in the background, but just using what you have. . .(Note: Rabbits get one copy of each gene from each parent, so your kits will have two possible choices for each gene. In the shorthand code for rabbit genetics, a capital letter denotes a dominant trait that can express itself with only one copy, while a lower case letter is used for recessive traits. Some genes have only two choices, where you will need both traits to be the same recessive option to be seen, but, other genes have more options. In the case of those like color C and extension E with five choices each, to have a recessive trait express itself (show up as the color you see, the
phenotype), you will need one copy of that recessive gene, and the other one will either be the same option, or something even more recessive down the list.)
I'm going to have to split this answer into two replies, it's too long to post. . .here's part one:
A: agouti dominant; self is recessive The sire is orange, which is dominant agouti with the recessive fawn
ee. His albino grandparent could be any color under the albino 'white sheet', as albino rabbits actually have a full complement of color genetics, but the recessive
cc albino blocks the pigment from being produced. The opal grandparent is also an agouti, with black 'B-' plus the recessive dilute
dd that turns the black into a blue by reducing the amount of pigment produced. The buck's dam is a tort, which is non-agouti recessive aa plus the orange/fawn ee, and black. So, the buck must be
Aa, since he is agouti he carries dominant 'A', but his mother could only contribute a recessive non-agouti 'a', which means he can pass along either trait.
Silver marten is a third option on the agouti gene, coded lower case a with a subscript 't' for 'tan', since I can't type it that way here, I'll use
a(t). It's halfway between agouti and non-agouti. The original tans have tan-colored inner ears, eye rings, around the nose, and on the belly, but they have none of the multicolor agouti rings on the fur, it's just a solid color fiber. That's how the tans are halfway between agouti and non-agouti, they have agouti markings but not agouti color rings in the fur. We call tan patterned rabbits
otters. BUT, the chinchilla gene removes all fawn from the hairshaft, and replaces it with pearl white, which is where the 'silver' part of silver marten comes in.
Martens are tan patterned rabbits with chinchilla, so the agouti markings are silvery white instead of tan. Your doe carries the tan gene, probably
a(t) a, the buck is Aa, so, using a Punnett square to figure out your chances of offpring on this gene, you get
:
The way a Punnett square works, is that you put the two alleles of one parent down the left column, and the other parent across the top row (it doesn't really matter which parent goes where, it works out the same either way.) Where a row and column meet, just enter the letter code from the matching row and column. According to this, since you have every possible allele on the agouti gene in play, you have a 50/50 chance of a kit being an agouti, a 25% (or 1 in 4) chance of it being a non-agouti like tort, black, chocolate, blue or lilac, and a 25% chance it will be tan pattern (either otter or marten depending on the other genes.
B: black is dominant; chocolate is recessive Orange can have either black or chocolate in the background, chocolate tends to make cleaner, brighter coats. Since the orange buck's opal grandparent carries black, and his mother is black tortoise shell we can assume he will pass along a black allele (
allele is just a fancy word for a possible choice on a given gene. The choices on the black gene are a simple black or recessive brown, on other genes you might have up to five different choices, like on the 'C' gene that comes next. The doe is a blue silver marten, blue is black plus dilute, so she'll probably be passing along black as well. Either could have chocolate as a recessive, so chocolate based kits (chocolate tort, cinnamon agouti, chocolate chinchilla, self chocolate, lilac, lynx, etc.) are not out of the question. If you see any of these chocolate-based colors in your litters, you'll know that both of the parents have a recessive chocolate allele to go with the black, as they will each have to contribute a chocolate allele for chocolate to be expressed.
C: full normal color is dominant; in descending order of dominance: chinchilla is next, sable next, then pointed white Himalayan and lastly albino red-eyed white. Your buck is normal full-color 'C', as is his tort and opal relatives. However, he does have an albino grandparent, so he could be
Cc. The doe is a marten, that means she carries the chinchilla dark
c(chd) allele, but her mother is a siamese sable, which is a more recessive chinchilla light
c(chl) option, usually just called the sable or shaded gene. Since the doe is a marten, we know she has chinchilla
c(chd), and her mother could only pass along either her sable
c(chl) or an even more recessive albino
cc if she carries it. Let's make a guess that the buck is Cc, and the doe c(chd) c(chl), just for fun.
This means you have a 50/50 chance of normal full color kits (like torts, agouti, blacks, etc.), a 25% chance a kit will be a chinchilla based color, and a 25% chance for sable based colors (like pearl, seal, siamese sable, etc.)
Stay tuned for part 2. . .
