Second post and loving this community, not a breeder but doing research to better understand their genetics. I guess I am trying to be a well educated buyer.
I am seeking a greater understanding of the genetic issue morphs (using “morph c” as a place holder) and the genes in general.
Question:
Are babies who are birthed from at least one morph c parent but display normal or non-morph c patterns/coloration, at risk of physical issues or still carry the gene? Or are the issues associated with morph c attached to the physical trait/pattern.
That depends on what that morph is, if the morph is homozygous then all the babies will have it in the heterozygous form, if the morph is heterozygous, then theoretically 50% of the offspring will carry it in the heterozygous form.
It will depend largely on exactly what morph issue you are talking about and whether it is incomplete dominant or recessive. Generally speaking, the animal that shows the visual morph will/may display the issue, while animals that don’t visually display the morph are either het for the gene (and may carry the issue) or don’t have the gene at all, in which case, wouldn’t carry.
In the case of neuro morphs (champagne, woma, HGW, Spotnose, spider) the phenotype is directly linked with the neuro issues, and as such it is impossible to breed out. Any visual neuro morph animal will have the neurological syndrome, whether we can see a wobble visually or not. An animal that is not a phenotypic example does not carry the gene, and therefore does not have or carry the issue.
In the case of things like super black pastel/super cinnamon kinking and duck billing, animals carrying one copy of the gene display no issues and only animals in the homozygous form have a higher likelihood of those issues.
In the case of fertility issues (caramel albino and desert), the phenotypical animal will be at high risk for the issue and in the case of the recessive, a het animal (carries only one gene) will carry the gene that causes the risk.
@eaglereptiles or @saleengrinch could one of you link the Topic called Morph Issues so the OP can see the list put together by @owalreptiles.
I’d link it but I don’t know how .
The health issues with these morphs are caused by the same mutation the causes the coloration and pattern changes, they don’t travel or hitchhike along with morphs. So the normal offspring of a spider with a severe wobble will be fine, because they don’t have the spider morph and therefor will not get the wobble either.
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