>Much confusion:
>At a single locus, two possible albino 'methods' OR cinnamon may occupy this
>one reserved space but not BOTH.  In an albino, all history of cinnamon is
>GONE....
>
>An albino which produces (TRUE) cinnamons cannot exist, (mutations excluded)
>but one can produce chocolates or diluted chocolates (which LOOK kinda
>cinnamon.
 
Hi, All,
It is possible I have *never* seen a Cinnamon, tho I guess I've seen about
100 ferrets called that.  If that is the case, we have a language problem
as well as different models of inheritance.  However, I have gotten several
of what I call Cinnamon from 2 separate lines over the last few years-
people have never once said they were not Cinnamon when they saw them.
Their color varies a bit each time they shed, but only from sensational to
incredible 8^).  Champaign is just a term from the Shembo books, to me.  It
isn't commonly used in these parts.
 
My original Cinnamons were from a cross between my daughter's Albino jill
and Gail Parker's Wolvy, Jr.  (one of 3 Cinnamon's her son gave that name.).
My second line/stock is also from a Parker Cinnamon jill- un-related as far
as our records go, and a paler color.  I crossed this second jill to my best
Sable, and have a male and female Cinnamon from the f2 outcross- both are
darker/ brighter than their grandmother.  Currently, I am crossing the ferts
from the second line w/ the Cinnamon Blazes from the first.
 
Model: Cinnamon/albino are a Dominant/recessive allele pair.  Their presence
affects the production of other colors by *limiting* pigment creation ( I'm
not sure which pigments are involved besides melanin).  They do not keep
other traits from existing in the genotype, but limit their expression in
the phenotype- in other words, the ferret still has the genes for sable or
chocolate, but doesn't look like a Sable or Chocolate because these traits
(Cinnamon/albino) don't let the pigment develop normally.  Technically, I
believe it is only accurate to talk about traits as dominant and recessive
in relation to a specific location- we can refer to this location as
something like the Pigment Production locus, or Ca (CA, the state- "We don't
allow no Ferrets 'round here!" Ca the locus- "We don't allow no pigment
'round here!" sorry- had to do it.)
 
There is at least one problem w/ this model- neither albino nor cinnamon are
the 'normal'/wild version of this gene locus.
 
I had to do a bit of reading here- writing always makes me re-think the
logic of my positions.  To quote Klug & Cummings, "Essentials of Genetics" :
Alternate forms of the same gene are called alleles.  In a population of
members of the same species, *many different alleles of the same gene may
exist*.' (p. 23).
 
I don't have any idea how many alleles of this gene exist, but at the very
least there is one more- Normal Pigment Production.  In the model as I have
presented it, albino is recessive to cinnamon, and both are recessive to
'normal'.  For all I know chocolate, panda and purple are all alleles of
this gene, but they would probably all be at other locations, and affected
only when an 'abnormal' combination is present at this location.  Sable is
probably the wild form I've called 'normal' unaffected by traits at other
locii, but that is another debate.  Anyway, the simplest model for this
locus is 3 alleles, w/ a dose of Normal, the dominant, keeping it from
affecting the color of the ferret.  It takes some combination of the alleles
recessive to Normal- albino and/or cinnamon- for this locus to change the
color of the ferret.
 
Evidence?
My experience backs up this model.  Albino x Albino crosses always, to my
knowledge, produce Albinoes, so if there are 2 traits that remove all
pigment, they are both alleles of this gene.  Again in my experience, all
albino x cinnamon crosses produce Albinoes and Cinnamons or only Cinnamons,
eliminating the possibility of these traits being at different gene locii.
Since both are masked by the other colors, other colors would appear in
their litters if they were not alleles of the same gene.
 
Assuming I have Champaigns rather than Cinnamons, then according to Bob's
model my ferrets are diluted chocolate ( I guess that means a Chocolate is
chocolate/chocolate, and a Champaign is chocolate/albino, or
chocolate/albino2?) In that case, I should be getting some Chocolates around
here, and the only colors in this discussion that I get from out-crosses are
Sable, Cinnamon and Albino.  I had a few Chocolates pop up before I started
breeding Cinnamon, but I didn't breed them.  It may be masked by other
colors somewhere in these lines, but I haven't had one pop up in 2 years.
 
If -When!  8^)- someone shots down this model, please give examples from
several generations of a strain, if possible.  What I am after is a way to
organize information, i.e., a model that fits *everyone's* experiences.  If
a Cinnamon/Champaign is a Chocolate w/ an albino twist I want to know it,
but at this stage I don't believe my litters fit that model.  If, for
instance, the Sable in my stock is masking the Chocolate, I'd expect 25%
Chocolates from Sable x Sable crosses, but am not seeing it.  Maybe the real
problem is a lack of data?  With my litters and others in the area I still
only look at about 15 litters a year.
 
TIA, for all responses,
Paul
[Posted in FML issue 1905]