Occasionally Butterflies
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The B series is self explanatory, being either dominant for black, recessive for brown. You need to change both genes in the pair to make a brown rabbit, but only one in the pair to make a black rabbit. The C series however is a lot more complex. This is the series where we find our first experience of incompletely dominant genes. Up to now in the A and B series (and in ever other series after the C series) all the genes you will ever come across as completely dominant. This means that it doesn’t matter what the second gene is in the pair, it will not have an affect on the expression of the colour. Incompletely dominant genes however do have and affect and can be clearly demonstrated in Sables, Smokes, Seal Points etc.
The dominant C overrides all other genes in this series, so to produce anything other than the full colours such as Black and Blue, you must have two of the genes from lower down the table. For example: To produce a Sable you must have the cchl gene present, PLUS either a second cchl, ch, or c. The shade of Sable depends on which one is the other half of the pair (along with other minor modifying genes)
aaB-cchlcchlD-E- gives a Dark Sable whereas aaB-cchlcD-E- will give us Medium/Light Sable.
If the himalayan gene is carried then this can often result in a rabbit looking like a Dark Sable, but not being genetically correct to be a dark. It can, in some cases also look like a Medium, which is why I mentioned earlier modifier genes - which have an affect on the expression of the shade of colour.
aaB-cchlcchlD-E- gives a Dark Sable whereas aaB-cchlcD-E- will give us Medium/Light Sable.
If the himalayan gene is carried then this can often result in a rabbit looking like a Dark Sable, but not being genetically correct to be a dark. It can, in some cases also look like a Medium, which is why I mentioned earlier modifier genes - which have an affect on the expression of the shade of colour.
If the rabbit collect two recessive c's then all the colour pigment in the coat and eye is removed and you get REW. It really does not matter what other genes it carries, all you will see is White.
One of the biggest myths is that REW's carry Sable. They can not. You can never have more than two genes in a pair and the REW's pair is taken up by two recessive c's. There is no space left in the pair for cchl as well.
| Medium Siamese Sable aaB-cchlcD-E- |
X |
Medium Siamese Sable aaB-cchlcD-E- |
| = | ||
| aaB-cchlcchlD-E- | aaB-ccD-E- | aaB-cchlcD-E- |
| Dark Siamese Sable | REW | Medium Siamese Sable |
As previously noted, the C series contains completely and incompletely dominant genes. In the table above I hope to have shown you that from to medium shades of rabbit, when mated together you can get all three possible shades out. Dark, Medium/Light and even albino (rew)
The cuckoo in the nest in this series is now obvious. It’s the light chinchillation gene, or cchl. It is fully dependant on the second gene in the pairing, when being expressed itself, to produce the shade required. If you have a dark rabbit such as an incorrectly coloured Smoke then you need really to breed it to a REW bred from smokes (like exampled in the table of sables above) and from this pairing you will produce a full litter of correctly coloured smokes as each parent has passed on one gene. cchl from the Smoke and c from the white, resulting in a litter all of which are now cchlc.
The cuckoo in the nest in this series is now obvious. It’s the light chinchillation gene, or cchl. It is fully dependant on the second gene in the pairing, when being expressed itself, to produce the shade required. If you have a dark rabbit such as an incorrectly coloured Smoke then you need really to breed it to a REW bred from smokes (like exampled in the table of sables above) and from this pairing you will produce a full litter of correctly coloured smokes as each parent has passed on one gene. cchl from the Smoke and c from the white, resulting in a litter all of which are now cchlc.
The D series or dilution gene is very easy to explain. In its dominant form D, it give full strength of colour. In its recessive form d, it dilutes the colour. It is only responsible for the dilution of black pigment to blue pigment however and can not dilute any other colour. It is why Agouti’s turn into Opals, Oranges to Fawns and Chocolates to Lilac’s etc.
The E series is a little more complex and therefore needs another page, but for now, listed below are a list of common colours seen in rabbits and their genotypes for you to get to grips with.
The E series is a little more complex and therefore needs another page, but for now, listed below are a list of common colours seen in rabbits and their genotypes for you to get to grips with.
| Agouti A-B-C-D-E |
Cinnamon A-bb-C-D-E- |
Chinchilla A-B-cchd-D-E- |
Opal A-B-C-dd-E- |
Orange A-B-C-D-ee |
Lynx A-bbC-ddE- |
| Squirrel A-B-cchd-ddE- |
Wiltshire A-bb-cchd-ddE- |
Choc Orange A-bbC-D-ee |
Fawn A-B-C-ddee |
Lilac Orange A-bbC-ddee |
Black aaB-C-D-E- |
| Chocolate aabbC-D-E- |
Blue aaB-C-ddE- |
Lilac aabbC-ddE- |
Black Otter at-B-C-D-E- |
Chocolate Otter at-bbC-D-E- |
Blue Otter at-B-C-ddE- |
| Lilac Otter at-bbC-ddE- |
Sooty Otter at-B-C-D-ee |
Black Fox at-B-cchd-D-E- |
Blue Fox at-B-cchd-ddE- |
Chocolate Fox at-bbcchd-D-E- |
Lilac Fox at-bbcchd-ddE- |
| Marten Sable at-B-cchlcD-E- |
Marten Smoke at-B-cchlcddE- |
Siamese Sable aaB-cchlcD-E- |
Siamese Smoke aaB-cchlcddE- |
Sealpoint aaB-cchlcD-ee |
Bluepoint aaB-cchlcddee |
| Sooty Fawn aaB-C-D-ee |
Beige aaB-C-ddee |
Chocolate Tort aabbC-D-ee |
Harelquin A-B-C-D-ej- |
Magpie A-cchd-D-ej- |
Himalayan - - - - ch-- - - - |
| REW - - - - cc- - - - |
BEW - - - - - - - - - - vv |
Butterfly - - - - - - - - - - Enen |
Steel A-B-C-D-EsE |
