`C` Series
<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=110 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="041f0f21egerdp.jpg"> <div> <B><IMG SRC="042203c0.jpg" border=0 width="32" height="60" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#66334C" FACE="Arial" ><B>Avalon Dwarf Lops</B></FONT><B> | </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Avalon Dwarf Lops"><B>home</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Introduction">Introduction</A> | <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="ASeries ">`A`Series </A> | <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="B Series">`B` Series</A> | <B>`C` Series</B> | <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="D Series">`D` Series</A> | <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="E Series">`E` Series</A> | <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Order of Dominance">Order of Dominance</A> | <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Testmate">Testmate</A> | <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Minor Genes">Minor Genes</A> | <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Colour Compatibility">Colour Compatibility</A> | <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="EMail me">E-Mail me</A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="040f2f02egerdp.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#66334C" FACE="Sully Jonquieres MN" >Albino-The most recessive c </FONT></div> <div> <IMG SRC="0f2ac880.jpg" border=0 width="172" height="136" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> No part of this article may be reproduced or transmitted in any way or by any means without the permission in writing from the author. </div> <div> Yvon Abbott. Avalon Dwarf Lop Stud. Plymouth, Devon. UK.<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#66334C" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> </div> </td> <td valign="top" height=370 width="100%" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="043f0f03.jpg"> <div> <I>`C` Series</I></div> <div> The `C` Series is responsible for the strength of black and yellow pigmentation in the hair.</div> <bR> <div> The order of dominance is as follows:-</div> <div> C= Full strength of black and yellow pigments as in an Agouti coloured animal.</div> <div> c<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >chd</FONT>= Dark Chinchilliation gene which removes all yellow pigment as in chinchilla coloured animal.</div> <div> c<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >chl</FONT>= Light Chinchilliation gene which removes all yellow and reduces black to sepia as in sealpoint colour.</div> <div> c<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >h</FONT>= Himalayan gene which produces pink eyes, white hair and coloured points.</div> <div> c= Albinoism gene which masks the presence of A,B,D and E Series and produces white hair and pink eyes.</div> <bR> <div> The `C` series is an important one to learn as it is the main cause for the show reports stating `poor colour` in the write up! For instance, you could have a sooty fawn which is ideally aaBBCCDDee, but it would still look the correct colour sooty if it was split for either white (aaBBCcDDee) or blue (aaBBCCDdee) or even both! (aaBBCcDdee).</div> <bR> <div> Now we will get into a bit of conflict depending on where you live, in the south of England we like our sooty-fawns to have a rich fawn, but go to the north and you will find they prefer a darker backed animal and mix in the dark chinchilliation gene cchd to get that effect! So what would be a sin to some is ideal to others.</div> <bR> <div> As a southerner I must admit I prefer the cleaner richer colour and do not like to see the phenotype aaBBCc<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >chd</FONT>DDee, so depending on your preferences you can use genetics to produce the colour acceptable to your area and everybody will be happy on the sooty fawns but I will not budge on the practice of mixing Agouti and Chinchilla together as an Agouti without a rich chestnut nape of the neck and banding is one of my pet hates. If you introduce the cchd gene to a correctly coloured Agouti you will find it will get too much dark ticking as an adult and the rich chestnut will be reduced to a wishy-washy yellow as the action of the dark chinchilliation gene is to remove all yellow pigment from the coat, but when inherited as a recessive, as in this case an agouti split for chinchilla, it cannot entirely remove all traces of yellow from the coat as the dominant C gene will not allow it, but it certainly reduces the strength of the yellow and you can definitely tell when an agouti carries the recessive gene AABBCc<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >chd</FONT>DDEE.</div> <bR> <div> The gene `C` is the dominant gene which displays the full strength of both yellow and black pigment in the coat. If you blow through the coat of a correctly coloured Agouti rabbit (AABBCCDDEE) you will find the yellow pigment displayed as a rich chestnut band which should also be present in the nape of the neck. The guard hairs are tipped pure black. This dominant `C` gene is present in several other colours which shall be listed later but the Agouti best illustrates the presence of the `C` gene when compared with the action of the next gene in the order of dominance `c<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >chd</FONT>` If you blow into the coat of a chinchilla coloured rabbit (AABBc<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >chd</FONT>c<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >chd</FONT>DDEE) you will find that the `c<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >chd</FONT>` gene has removed all traces of yellow (chestnut) from the coat but the black guard hairs remain the same. Where the chestnut was apparent in the Agouti banding and nape of neck you will see it has been replaced with a white/pearl grey colour. This is why you should not mix Agouti and Chinchilla coloured rabbits as any Agouti which has inherited the recessive chinchilliation gene (AABBCc<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >chd</FONT>DDEE) will be affected to some degree as described in the previous paragraph.</div> <bR> <div> We now know that the dark chinchilla gene `c<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >chd</FONT>` is recessive to `C` but there are three more genes in the `C Series` to be explored which are also recessive to `C` and `c<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >chd</FONT>`, the next gene in the order of dominance is the light chinchilla gene `c<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >chl</FONT>` which is present in the Siamese Sable and Sealpoint colours. For the purpose of showing the action of this gene on the colour of the coat we will use the colour Black (aaBBCCDDEE).</div> <bR> <div> As the black rabbit only has a different pattern of coat from the Agouti we have not altered any of the B, C, D or E Series to use as our example. (Refer to the Pattern of Coat chart on the `A` Series page which illustrates the black rabbit has identical genes to the Agouti apart from the `A` series which controls the patterns)</div> <bR> <div> The appearance of the strong black colour is due to a combination of both black and yellow genes in full strength, but just as the dark chinchilliation gene removed all presence of yellow from the coat, the light chinchilliation gene `c<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >chl</FONT>` has a similar action but not quite as strongly as the dark chinchilliation gene `c<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >chd</FONT>` Instead, this gene removes some of the yellow from the coat which leaves black hair looking sepia. This can be seen when comparing a Medium Siamese Sable (aaBBc<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >chl</FONT>cDDEE) to a black.(aaBBCCDDEE)</div> <bR> <div> The Sealpoint is the light chinchilla version of the Sooty Fawn, this will be explained better when we explore the `E Series` as both of these colours are also affected by the action of recessive `ee`.</div> <bR> <div> The next recessive gene in the order of dominance is the Himalayan gene `c<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >h</FONT>` which is an animal with the white coat and pink eyes of an albino but with black `points` on muzzle, ears, feet and tail.</div> <bR> <div> Last, and by no ways least, we have the most recessive gene in the `C Series` which is a very useful tool in using genetics, the gene `c` which is responsible for Albinoism. All other genes in the `C Series` are dominant to this gene, but it is a powerful gene in its own right. When you see an albino rabbit in your litter it immediately confirms that both of its parents were carrying the recessive gene `c`, no matter what colour they might have been</div> <bR> <div> After we have explored the last Series `E` I shall further explain the importance of the white (albino) rabbit in genetics, as you can use the albino to determine the genetics of most of your coloured animals in testmatings.</div> <bR> <div> To recap what you have learnt so far:-</div> <div> The `A` series is responsible for the pattern of the hair.</div> <div> The `B` series is responsible for the black pigmentation in the hair.</div> <div> The `C` series is responsible for the strength of black and yellow pigmentation in the hair.</div> <div> The `D` series is responsible for the density of pigmentation in the hair.</div> <bR> <div> Phenotype means the actual colour you see.</div> <div> Genotype means the actual genetic make up of the animal which you might not see by just looking at the colour.</div> <bR> <div> Yet again I would like to remind you that Each Rabbit Can Only Possibly Have Two Genes In Each Series And Can Only Pass On One Of Each Of The Five Series To Each Baby! A rabbit with two recessive genes in a series can ONLY pass on the recessive gene and the baby MUST then inherit that recessive gene whether you can see it or not.</div> <bR> <div> If you have survived reading this far we might as well complete the last major gene responsible for the colour of your stock, I am hoping that some of the confusion surrounding genetics is already starting to unravel and you can see that it is more of a maths equation than a mystery!</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>