Questions: genotypes for brigs

[Soothing Snails]

Going over genotypes for phenotypes and have some questions:

#1: What is the difference between (B), if (P) (Q) and (R) are representational of shell based pigments?

Is (B) shown to allow the expression of the shell based pigments, much like (A) is used to show expression over albinism in mice? If it is, then (bb) would equal what? Clear? Ivory?

#2: Do wilds in theory have (Bb) naturally (assuming bb is Ivory), and BB is never possible for some reason? (Incomplete dominance perhaps?)

#3: Has anyone put forward the possibility of a dilution gene that may account for the lighter color of pink from purple? Ie. dd or gg in rats changing fur color from black to blue?

[LvsSunDrop]

I didn't do well in genetics (LOL!) but I just wanted to check to see how your 'testing' is going?

[Soothing Snails]

This was mainly for theory, not actual hands on testing, but still don't have answers yet.

You may have read from another post that I had a tragedy with my 5 youngest snails due to stupid errors on my part. That is par for the course when learning something new (aquatics), but I'm happier to say that I'm wiser and have learned better techniques, so when I'm ready to sell any clutches- they'll be much healthier and happier, and I'll be much happier knowing they are much happier!

[LvsSunDrop]

I hadn't read your post, but I'm sorry that you had to "live and learn". But you're right... even though the living part can be tough, oftentimes its well worth the lesson in the end.

Best of luck!

[Donya]

What is the difference between (B), if (P) (Q) and (R) are representational of shell based pigments?

The BPQR combo was a brute-force fix for some odd combinations that were observed. In the model, it basically worked this way: if B is present then check for P Q R to determine pigments, otherwise no base pigment. It was not a fix I was ever 100% happy with as each factor exponentially increases the number of combinations to deal with and many reduce to the same thing, but nothing better came along from a prediction standpoint.

Do wilds in theory have (Bb) naturally (assuming bb is Ivory)

Yes for some but not all. The same would be true for the other traits in the model as well. For example, in the past there were wilds in the trade that threw nothing but wilds - that seems to no longer be the case in most current captive populations of the same color.

Has anyone put forward the possibility of a dilution gene that may account for the lighter color of pink from purple?

Not that I know of, although the 9-trait model accounts for some degree of red/blue difference in pigments. Further complicating things, a lot of color intensity can be affected by environmental factors, observable in cases when a snail is moved from one tank to another and suddenly grows out a slightly different hue.