Guinea fowl genetics... and wattles

[gguineasfamily]

Hey guys!

So I have a theory about guinea fowl genetics and I haven't seen it anywhere else but... flat and curly wattles.

Some females have curly wattles (like my Misty and Glossy) but most have flat.

Some males have flat wattles (like my Flap and Tabby) but most have curly.

Male sex chromosomes: ZZ

Female sex chromosomes: WZ

My theory is that flat and curly wattles is a sex-linked gene with curly being dominant, i.e. females need one copy of flat wattle gene to get flat, but males need both alleles to be flat to show the flat wattles phenotype, otherwise they will be curly. And females get their wattle gene from their dad since that's who they get their Z chromosome from (mum gives them W).

Therefore a male who is heterozygous for flat and curly wattles can have flat and curly daughters, but for a male to have flat he must have a flat-wattled mother and a father who is either flat-wattled or carries the gene for it.

And I'd guess that for the one-flat-one-curly phenotype it's just a mutation in one wattle, probably has the curly gene that just didn't turn on in one wattle since they start off flat.

Here's some phenotypes of guineas I've bred, flat wattle is shaded, male is square and female circle.

I think Wisp is homozygous for curly wattle and all Polkadot and Wisp's sons are heterozygous. Makes sense how curly wattles Zippity or Dewwe had a flat-wattled son (with flat-wattled Skye from a different line as mother) but Bebe's son has curly wattles. Bit unsure on the parents of a couple of the second generation children, but narrowed it down to two after watching their mating habits at the time the eggs were laid (Pearl still confuses me though, against my previous theory she must have the flat watted gene and Striped be heterozygous for Clock to have flat wattles).

Anyone notice any similar trends among their guineas?

Also, if nearly all my guineas are Pied how come we have never gotten a White from breeding two together, only Reverse Pied?

Is lavender still recessive to pearl if the pearl is pied?

And also anyone know the deal on the purple neck? Sorry if this is a lot of questions.

 

[R2elk]

Hey guys!

So I have a theory about guinea fowl genetics and I haven't seen it anywhere else but... flat and curly wattles.

Some females have curly wattles (like my Misty and Glossy) but most have flat.

Some males have flat wattles (like my Flap and Tabby) but most have curly.

Male sex chromosomes: ZZ

Female sex chromosomes: WZ

My theory is that flat and curly wattles is a sex-linked gene with curly being dominant, i.e. females need one copy of flat wattle gene to get flat, but males need both alleles to be flat to show the flat wattles phenotype, otherwise they will be curly. And females get their wattle gene from their dad since that's who they get their Z chromosome from (mum gives them W).

Therefore a male who is heterozygous for flat and curly wattles can have flat and curly daughters, but for a male to have flat he must have a flat-wattled mother and a father who is either flat-wattled or carries the gene for it.

And I'd guess that for the one-flat-one-curly phenotype it's just a mutation in one wattle, probably has the curly gene that just didn't turn on in one wattle since they start off flat.

Here's some phenotypes of guineas I've bred, flat wattle is shaded, male is square and female circle.
View attachment 1544674

I think Wisp is homozygous for curly wattle and all Polkadot and Wisp's sons are heterozygous. Makes sense how curly wattles Zippity or Dewwe had a flat-wattled son (with flat-wattled Skye from a different line as mother) but Bebe's son has curly wattles. Bit unsure on the parents of a couple of the second generation children, but narrowed it down to two after watching their mating habits at the time the eggs were laid (Pearl still confuses me though, against my previous theory she must have the flat wattled gene and Striped be heterozygous for Clock to have flat wattles).

Anyone notice any similar trends among their guineas?

Also, if nearly all my guineas are Pied how come we have never gotten a White from breeding two together, only Reverse Pied?

Is lavender still recessive to pearl if the pearl is pied?

And also anyone know the deal on the purple neck? Sorry if this is a lot of questions.

I have found wattle size to differ in different color varieties with Pearls having the largest wattles. Your theory does not account for the guineas that have one side a large cupped wattle and the other side a flat wattle. There are far too many of them to be accounted for by a wattle mutation.

If your guineas are truly pied guineas, you can expect 25% solid color, 25% white and 50% pied offspring. I have run across the mistake of people calling guineas that have a couple of white wing feathers pied guineas. There has not been shown that a couple of white wing feathers is related to the white color gene that causes a white guinea when two of the genes are present or a pied guinea when only one of the white color genes is present.

Lavender is caused when a guinea has two blue color genes and at least one full dotting gene. The blue color gene is recessive to the gray color gene that the Pearl Grays have. The white color gene is located at a different site than are the other color genes such as gray, blue or buff. The presence of one white color gene (pied) will not affect the fact that the gray gene is dominant to the blue color gene. If two white color genes are present, they will cause all the other color genes that may be present to be hidden.