Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike1975  Hi everyone.
I was wondering whether you have information concerning the "silver gene" located at V locus.
Can this gene also be found in Yorkies?
If not, whats the genetic cause of the difference between dark steel blue and light steel blue for example.
Can this be caused by the incomplete dominance of the Graying gene?
Meaning that :
GG dog is a light steel blue
Gg dog is a dark steel blue and
gg dog is black
Thanks 
Mike |
Hi Mike,
I wrote to a canine coat color genetics researcher last summer, and she was interested in taking a closer look at the G (dominant greying) locus. She thought it could be a genetic variation of the same gene that causes Merle patterning. It's obviously not the same mutation as Merle, because the color patterning is different and Merle is homozygous lethal, but it could still be a variation in the same gene. I sent her a cheek swab DNA sample from my dear Bella, and she was going to have a student sequence Bella's Merle gene to see if they could find anything, but she never got back to me--I'll follow up with her tomorrow.
So the dominant greying gene in Yorkies is still somewhat of a mystery, but your hypothesis makes sense. My understanding is that GG is silvery blue, Gg is darker blue, and gg is black.
From reading up on the "V" locus you mentioned, it sounds exactly the same as the G locus. I'm pretty sure it's another name for the same gene. Here is a link to an article about the "V" locus:
http://www.havanesecolors.com/ggv.html