Ghost gene

[bokuza]

Isn't the Ghost (hypo) gene a simple recessive?
So if a normal and hypo mate, the children will be 50% het right? They'll have one copy of the Ghost gene.

So really there isn't a possibility of a normal x ghost pairing to have POSSIBLE hets right? Their going to have one copy of ghost....right?

 

[PumpkinPython]

Hypo in Ball Pythons is indeed a simple recessive trait. I think where you are getting confused is with the terminology that is being used.

If a male Hypo is mated to a female normal, then all offspring will have one copy of the Hypo gene and one copy of the Normal gene. That means all the offspring will be heterozygous for the ghost trait. These babies would be called 100% Het Ghosts, because there is a 100% chance that the animals are heterozygous for the ghost trait. So you are correct in thinking that all animals from such a pairing would be hets, but incorrect in labeling them 50% heterozygous. An animal is either heterozygous or it isn't.

If, however, you mated a male Het Hypo to a female normal, only 50% of the offspring would inherit one copy of the Hypo gene. The other 50% would inherit a normal gene from dad and a normal gene from mom (homozygous normals). Because you can not visually tell the difference between an animal that is Het for Hypo and a normal, however, these animals are labeled 50% Hets for Hypo, meaning, there is a 50% chance that that animal is heterozygous for hypo.

Saying 50% Het Hypo is sort of shorthand for saying 50% Possible Het Hypo.

Hope that helps.

 

[bokuza]

Thanks Pumpkin! Thats exactly what I was looking for. Great job on explaining it.

 

[PumpkinPython]

You are welcome! I love genetics, but wading through the terminology ball python breeders use can be a bit tricky.