Brief question about the White gene in Silkies

[ChickBond 007]

Quote:
Incorrect. Genes are not dominant to each other. Different alleles of a gene are dominant or recessive in relationship towards each other.

Bl>bl+: blue is dominant to not-blue; C+>c>c>c^re>c^a: not-white is dominant to white, which is dominant to white with red eye, which is dominant to albino; H+>h: not-silkie is dominant to silkie; Pg>pg+: pattern gene is dominant to not-pattern-gene; Fm>fm+: Fibromelanosis is dominant to not-fibromelanosis; etc.

Blue is neither dominant nor recessive to white; not-silkie is neither dominant nor recessive to frizzle; pattern gene is neither dominant nor recessive to silver.

Another way of saying "not-white is dominant to white" is that white is recessive to not-white.

With a dominant allele, it matters not if a different, more recessive allele is present--the dominant allele controls. With a recessive allele, it only controls expression when a more dominant allele is not present.

A bird whose genotype is Cc+ or Cc^re or Cc^a will have the phenotype (appearance) of C: not-white

A bird who is c+c+ or c+c^re or c+c^a will have the phenotype of c+:white.

A bird who is c^re c^re or c^re c^a will have the phenotype of c^re:white with red eyes.

A bird who is c^a c^a will have the phenotype of c^a: albino.


White turns OFF the expression (display) of other colour or pattern genes present in the bird. A bird who has PgPg BlBl Bb didi mlml ArAr and c+c+ will be white. So will one who is pgpg blbl bb didi MlMl arar & c+c+. You hae no way of knowing which particular genesets are hiding behind the white. Breed to a non-white bird and the results are unpredictible.

Whew, I sure wish you had been there to sit by me in Chemistry

 

[Poulets De Cajun]

Quote:
.



You mean BIOLOGY.... LOL

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

I barely made it through chemistry,

and my interest in genetics is relatively recent. My first science love was geology--and physical geology at that--I avoided historical (biological) geology classes whenever I could substitute one that dealt with the physical aspects--and even there I would pick classes dealing with igneous or metamorphic rock over ones dealing with sedimentary rock. Fossils were not my favourite thing

First, learn basic concepts and terminology.

Then learn one gene at a time. Every time you add an additional piece of information, your knowledge grows geometrically--because once you've learned how recessive genes work, you understand ALL recessive genes. Once you've learned how one incompletely dominant gene works, you've learned how ALL incompletely dominant genes work. Etc. Then it is merely applying your knowledge to a particular gene.

Thank you for the complement, Chris, but there are many who understand chicken genetics far better than I. I am particular about saying things correctly (drives my husband nuts), but especially with a highly specialized subject such as genetics, saying things even a bit differently can vastly change the meaning.

Unfortunately, the best website for learning basic genetics has disappeared, yet again, from cyber space. If you can find the website for "Poultry Genetics for the Non-Professional," that is a great place to start. Once you understand basic concepts, Poultry Genetics for Exhibition Breeders http://www.edelras.nl/chickengenetics is a good place to learn.

So, where did I confuse you, and I'll try to explain a bit more clearly.

 

[Old Rando]

"Poultry Genetics for the Non-Professional" is here hopefully. http://web.archive.org/web/20051207035940/marsa_sellers.tripod.com/geneticspages/page0.html

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Bless you!!!

Any idea why it keeps disappearing?