Morphs in general!

[chazthaking2]

This is my question. How does a genetic pop up of a new morph occur? Like how did a wild caught create a tangerine, Murphy, eclipse, etc. I was hoping to get a scientific break down, not a breed this with this, kind of answer. I saying to the terminology of genotype and phenotype. How does a phenotype mutation happen to create so many new morphs?

 

[Tony C]

Mutations are a random occurrence that happen when DNA is incorrectly copied during cell division.

 

[Vision Geckos]

The mutations that change phenotype and genotype are very uncommon, though. Out of the many different morphs you know, think of how many 10s of thousands of geckos are being made each year. The percentage is so low, that it is not worth holding your breath for. It's completely unpredictable.

 

[RampantReptiles]

You may be able to create a morph through line breeding, but that takes time and several generations. I dont mean the kinds of morphs that are genetic but the ones like hypos. You just take a gecko with fewer spots than the rest and make some babies and breed the ones with the fewest spots and or breed them back until you have geckos with virtually no spots.

Like everyone else said discovering a new genetic morph happens through mutation and the probability that you would get one of these is very very low.

 

[chazthaking2]

I understand all what you are saying but isn't it amazing how the combination of so many chromosomes and phenotypes and so on can make so many different colors and morphs. For instant, albino is the most common random genetic pop up, but then you go into specific morphs like 3 kinds of albinos, how is that even possible when you would think there is only one. Whats to say there isn't an endless amount of albinos to be created. What I did read is that the most time genetic mutations occur is when the gene pool is so smalll, i.e. inbreeding, linebreeding. Maybe the amount of diploid and haploid happens as well to make a new morph, in the since of combining all morphs together except the albinos of course, what could or would actually happen?

 

[robin]

all i know is that a T- albino would be so damn coool!

 

[richardrojas]

all i know is that a T- albino would be so damn coool!

What is a T- albino???

 

[Vision Geckos]

I think she means Tremper minus the albino part. But I could be completely off.

Edit: No, I still don't think I can make sense out of it.

 

[jmlslayer]

I think she means Tremper minus the albino part. But I could be completely off.

Edit: No, I still don't think I can make sense out of it.

The albino we have is a T+ albino she is referring to the T- which would look insane

 

[RampantReptiles]

I thought there were different albino strains because of the different subspecies? I dont know of any other species of animal with multiple strains of albino but I also could be mistaken.

Whats a T- albino? A dark gecko?

wow I feel ignorant >_<

 

[richardrojas]

I thought there were different albino strains because of the different subspecies? I dont know of any other species of animal with multiple strains of albino but I also could be mistaken.

Whats a T- albino? A dark gecko?

wow I feel ignorant >_<

I feel the same too. still not understanding what a T- albino is.

 

[chazthaking2]

What is the difference between the T- and a T+ albino. What is a Bell albino and a rainwater albino? That's the stuff I am trying to understand. How can one morph make so many?

 

[chazthaking2]

A T-albino is like a xanthic with pink eyes.

 

[paulh]

Terms:
genotype = the identity of the actual genes.
phenotype = appearance. Produced by the interaction of the genes and the environment.

diploid cell = any cell with pairs of chromosomes (which produces pairs of genes). Most cells in most multicellular organisms are diploid. In other words, most cells in a leopard gecko's body are diploid.
haploid cell = a cell in which the chromosomes are single. A leopard gecko's sperm/eggs are haploid. When a haploid sperm fertilizes a haploid egg, the resulting cell is diploid.

T- albino (tyrosinase negative albino) = any creature that lacks black pigment because of a non-working tyrosinase enzyme. An enzyme changes one chemical into a different chemical. The tyrosinase enzyme is required for the first two steps in the production of black pigment.Without tyrosinase doing its job, the cells cannot make black pigment.
T+ albino (tyrosinase positive albino) = any creature that lacks black pigment in spite of having a working tyrosinase enzyme. Ideally, a T positive albino looks much like a T negative albino, but the cause is a different malfunctioning enzyme.

Distinguishing between a T negative and a T positive albino requires a chemical test. Nobody has tested the three types of albino leopard geckos for tyrosinase activity, as far as I know. Hopefully, one of them is a T negative albino. But it is possible that all three of them are T-positive albinos. And even after they are tested, we will need to use the present names to prevent confusion.

Humans have approximately 21,000 genes. Nobody knows how many genes a leopard gecko has, but it is probably within a few thousand of the human number. Toxic chemicals and radiation are the most common causes for a malfuntioning gene.

We take the most common appearance in the wild as the wild type or normal phenotype. And the most common gene in each location in the chromosomes as the wild type or normal gene. Think of genes as like the machines in an assembly line. If all the genes are working as expected, the line's output is normal. If one machine does not work as expected, the output is not normal.

The number of different abnormal appearances is caused by the fact that there are so many different genes that can go wrong. And just like one assembly line can have more than one malfunctioning machine, a leopard gecko can have more than one malfunctioning gene. A gecko with Tremper albino mutant genes is a Tremper albino. A gecko with an eclipse mutant gene is an eclipse. But a gecko can have both Tremper albino mutant genes and an eclipse mutant gene.

Mimic mutant genes produce similar appearances from different malfunctions. A car engine will not start when the battery is bad and when the ignition switch is broken. Here, two different causes produce similar effects. Tremper albino, Bell albino, and rainwater albino are mimic genes. Different causes, similar effects.

If we wrote down all the leopard gecko genes, we'd be writing "normal" many thousands of times. It can't be done. So for convenience, we ignore all the normal genes and just write down the abnormal (= mutant) genes. If we say that a Bell albino gecko has two Bell albino mutant genes, we mean that the gecko has two Bell albino mutant genes and that all the other genes are normal.

Hope that helps.

 

[Tony C]

Excellent explanation Paul.

 

[richardrojas]

Thanks Paul

 

[chazthaking2]

Yeah everything you wrote Paul I read about in Wikipedia, but I wish wiki focused more on Leopard Geckos in that situation. They apply everything to humans. It would be nice if they said well eclipse was this with this. and then you click on that particular word and it puts you to the next definition of something. I spent 3 days reading about genetics and remember what I read but finding out about how genetics happen in geckos, not to say that what you said is any different, just want it applied to Geckos and Snakes is all

 

[paulh]

The principles of genetics apply to humans, leopard geckos, fruit flies, corn, etc. However, you might find the leopard gecko wiki useful for more leopard gecko oriented information.

http://www.leopardgeckowiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

 

[chazthaking2]

I own a whole lot of geckos, I understand genetics pretty well. I know they apply to all life forms but I guess you guys just don't understand what I am asking. I'm not saying I know everything but I have read leowiki up and down over and over again. Thanks for your help though.

 

[paulh]

I'm getting the impression that you want something in depth about how the different mutant genes affect the leopard gecko's anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry. As opposed to mere visual description and Punnett square results. If so, I wish you luck. The only think I know of that comes anywhere close to that is Genetic Strains and Variants of the Laboratory Mouse. Which is about mice rather than geckos.