Just to expand on this topic a bit and break it down a bit, heterozygous
animals are as Tony said, animals that contain two alleles. An animal may
contain one allele for albinism and one normal one. The reason these
animals are usually more highly priced is that the albinism gene can show
up in later generations. Although these animals may look normal(normal
allele is dominant one) if they are bred to another heterozygous animal
(possibly a descendent) the albinism may show up and you end up with an
albino animal from two normal looking ones.
"Hypo" can actually refer to anything where there is less of it than
normal. Hypoxanthic means less yellow pigment(if memory serves correctly),
but "hypo" does usually refer to melanin which is the dark pigment.
That's probably more about genetics than you'd ever want to know, but
thought I'd fill you in. TC
>At 11:56 PM 12/14/00 -0600, you wrote:
>>Hello,
>>
>>Thursday, December 14, 2000, 6:53:14 PM, you wrote:
>>O> Can anyone tell me what "Het" and "Hypo" mean? I think it has
something to
>>O> do with genetics...not sure just how though..
>>
>>"Het" is short for heterozygous, a genetics term, that means having two
different
>>alleles, or types, of a single gene.
>>"Hypo" refers to hypomelanistic. Hypomelanistic animals
>>have, as the name implies, less melanin than normal. This may or may
>>not be a genetic trait.
>>I hope this helps.
>>--
>>Best regards,
>> Tony mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>
>>
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