Re: Are you sure about the bug-eyed thing?.....

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ The Rat Snake Forum ]

Posted by Dwight Good on August 09, 2002 at 14:11:43:

In Reply to: Are you sure about the bug-eyed thing?..... posted by chrish on August 09, 2002 at 12:59:34:

:I have never heard that the bug-eyed condition is inherited as a simple mendelian recessive allele. It seems unlikely that would be true.
There is a strong correlation between bug-eyes and leucism in TX Rats. This could be linkage (both genes are one the same chromosome), but it seems more likely that the bulging of the eyes is a failure of some developmental pathway that is correlated with the failure that causes leucism.
:Correct me if you know otherwise, but I doubt it is as simple as a recessive allele at the "eye position" locus.

I'm no genetics expert, but I believe the "bug-eyed" trait to be inherited as a simple recessive. My breeding results this year tend to back this up. Let me explain... for several years I have breeding the same male leucistic to a het female and also to a leucistic female that I raised from a hatchling. Over the years I have never produced a "bug-eyed" hatchling. I lost my leucistic female last year, so over the winter I acquired two leucistic females from a friend on breeding loan. I bred my male leucistic to both females, and gave my het female the year off. The results? Somewhat disappointing to say the least. The clutch from female #1 contained several "bug-eyed" offspring, the first I had ever hatched. These were true hammerheads to be brutally honest. The clutch from the second female was quite different, nine perfect hatchlings emerged. According to my logic (correct me if I am wrong it is certainly possible!) that would make my male and female #1 "het" for the bug eyed trait, while female #2 would not appear to be a carrier. I realize this is a small control group, but don't these results indicate the bug-eyed trait to be passed as a simple recessive? I welcome any comments, especially yours chris h (I read your intro on the FC forum, so I know you know your stuff!)

Thanks,
dg

Follow Ups:

Re: Are you sure about the bug-eyed thing?..... herpnbrau 08/10/02 (3)
- Re: Are you sure about the bug-eyed thing?..... Dwight Good 08/10/02 (2)
  - Re: Are you sure about the bug-eyed thing?..... TravisG 08/10/02 (0)
  - Re: Are you sure about the bug-eyed thing?..... patricia sherman 08/10/02 (0)