What?
- Thread starter Karah
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Each time a gecko produces offspring it passes some of its genetic material to the offspring. Sometimes it's clear that this has happened, for example, if an albino gecko has offspring, it has definitely passed one of its albino genes along (because, being albino, it has 2 copies of that gene, right?). If the offspring gets an albino gene from each parent then it will also be albino. If it gets the albino gene from only 1 parent, it will not look albino, but will be "heterozygous" for albino and is capable of passing that gene to its own offspring. Since it is definitely "het" for albino, it has a 100% likelihood of passing that gene on.
But what about a case where a gecko has 1 gene for albino (i.e. it's het for albino)? How can we tell whether or not it has passed that gene to its offspring. If it's bred with another gecko that has an albino gene and the offspring are albinos, then we know that it did pass on its albino gene. However, if the babies are not albinos, then we have no way of knowing whether or not it passed on that gene. Depending on the genetics of the parents and how the babies come out, there is a probability that the babies have the gene in question. I'm not going to go into a detailed explanation of what the probabilities can be, but I'll give an example:
Last season I crossed a Tremper albino male with a female that was het for albino and het for blizzard. All the babies will be either albinos (if they get the gene from each parent) or het albinos (if they only got the gene from the albino male). The ones that are het albino definitely have the gene, since the male passes on only albino genes, so they are 100% het albino. What about the blizzard gene? The het blizzard gecko has a 50% chance of passing the blizzard gene to offspring, so the babies are considered to be 50% het blizzard. Each baby either does or doesn't have a blizzard gene. There's no way to tell except to breed the gecko in question to a blizzard and see if you get blizzards.
I hope this makes sense to you.
Aliza
But what about a case where a gecko has 1 gene for albino (i.e. it's het for albino)? How can we tell whether or not it has passed that gene to its offspring. If it's bred with another gecko that has an albino gene and the offspring are albinos, then we know that it did pass on its albino gene. However, if the babies are not albinos, then we have no way of knowing whether or not it passed on that gene. Depending on the genetics of the parents and how the babies come out, there is a probability that the babies have the gene in question. I'm not going to go into a detailed explanation of what the probabilities can be, but I'll give an example:
Last season I crossed a Tremper albino male with a female that was het for albino and het for blizzard. All the babies will be either albinos (if they get the gene from each parent) or het albinos (if they only got the gene from the albino male). The ones that are het albino definitely have the gene, since the male passes on only albino genes, so they are 100% het albino. What about the blizzard gene? The het blizzard gecko has a 50% chance of passing the blizzard gene to offspring, so the babies are considered to be 50% het blizzard. Each baby either does or doesn't have a blizzard gene. There's no way to tell except to breed the gecko in question to a blizzard and see if you get blizzards.
I hope this makes sense to you.
Aliza
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Nice explanation, Aliza. But one question, how do people get "66%" hets? It was explained to me at a show years ago, but I forgot exactly how it's determined.
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If you pair two het albinos, for example, statistically, 1 in 4 (or 25%) will be albino because they'll get the gene from both parents. The other 3 combinations (you can do this on a punnet square, but I can't reproduce that here) are het albinos or non-hets. Statistically there's a 25% chance of getting a non-het (i.e. one who has no albino genes) and a 50% chance of getting a het. We eliminate the pure albino possibility because that one is visually identifiable. Of the remaining 3 possibilities, 2 out of 3 or 66% will be het for albino, meaning that each baby that appears normal has a 66% chance of being het albino. Once again, you would only know which is which by test breeding.
Aliza
Aliza
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