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Originally Posted by FlDebra QUOTE: Does a maltese even carry a parti colored gene. If it does then why are Maltese always white?.]QUOTE
It is not really a parti-colored gene. It is more complicated than that. IT is a recessive white series, but there are variations that produce a range of color from white spotting to all white. It depends on the variation of alleles. The reason I was saying that the previous simplified example did not really apply is because it is based on the idea that there is just dominant and recessive and dominant wins. With the white gene in dog's coats it is an exception -- in this case incomplete dominance. One site likens it to paint mixing giving the example of a flower where the red and white strains mix to produce pink. In the dogs case, it is not a matter of muddying the color, it is a combination of how much white appears. It goes on to explain recessive white series is complicated even more by modifier genes that increase or decrease the amount of white on the dogs. So -- yes the maltese has the gene to ensure it's white coat -- it is not a parti-colored gene -- it is a white one, but I am sure that there are much more complicated versions as well. To see all the possible combinations of alleles to produce everything from the all white, to small amounts of white spotting would be interesting. But to see all the possible combinations including the potential modifying genes would be amazing. |
I'll buy that explaination on the gene. But it doesn't prove anything in regards to the parti colored yorkies or where the gene came from and how long it has been there.