Deborah Adams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote
>
>For the geneticists out there, do you have any citations for the structure
>of coat color genes? Are any of these genes mapped on the gerbil genome?
>Is there anything known about the sequence of the gerbil genome? I'll go
>ahead and do a NCBI search and see if any gerbil genes can be found of
>GeneBank.
>
I do not think anything has been done on the gerbil genome. Whilst there
are papers to describe the inheritance of most of the colours, and
another paper due shortly, including in one case linkage of inheritance,
I don't think any gene has been definitively linked to a chromosome. And
I do not think the mechanism of expression has been described for any of
these genes either.
http://www.gerbils.co.uk/gerbils/lit.htm
lists all the papers that discuss this subject and has a brief summary
of each.
Take care because the scientific names for the phenotypes do not always
match the names used by hobby breeders.
http://www.gerbils.co.uk/gerbils/genetics.htm
summarises all that is known about gerbil coat colour genetics.
Personally, I think an interesting demonstration could be done with
white marked gerbils.
Take a black gerbil and mate it to an agouti gerbil.
Breed back the offspring
Results will show how simple inheritance works.
Take a black spotted gerbil and a non-spotted gerbil
This will show that the white markings are inherited separately from the
colour.
By breeding two white marked offspring together you should be able to
demonstrate pathology in that some of the pups will be missing.
This might be a good idea of showing how geneticists can try and
understand and treat genetic disease without actually producing any
animals with disease or deformity.
--
Julian
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
National Gerbil Society
http://www.gerbils.co.uk/
