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Originally Posted by navillusc  The recessive gene that results in a blue born Yorkie pup must be passed to offspring by both parents to express. It is also possible that all the pups you have bred from that sire and/or dam are ' carriers' of the gene. Both sire and dam of that litter must be altered and not bred again to prevent creating carrier pups as well as avoid breeding another blue born pup. You might want to re-visit the lines you were breeding, including your second bitch, if you are concerned she might be a carrier herself as well. Do check out KendraE's posts...she is very knowledgeable. I am sorry, and I hope your little blue does well. I would like to see pix...  |
Hi, as a geneticist by profession, I concur with your analysis 100%! Both parents of the blue yorkie had to be carriers of the gene, and both will have to be fixed to keep from spreading the gene to the offspring and creating more carriers (one copy of the mutant gene) and blue yorkies (two copies of the mutant gene). BTW, on average, if you cross two carriers of a recessive mutation, half of the offspring will also be carriers, and one out of four will express the mutation (blue yorkie, in this case). There are exceptions to the rule (for example a spontaneous mutation occurring in a single sperm or egg cell), but they are rare.