BMB-5 has been quite surprising. I was hoping to discover more about NZW-B's genotype, but I did not expect to find out something hidden in the genotype of my Blue Silver Fox, Misty Blue. However, seeing is believing.
These two of the BMB-5 kindle are Agoutis. The one on the right is a Chestnut and the other is a Chinchilla.
A Chestnut Agouti has this genotype:
A_ B_ C_ D_ E_
Because the sire has "cc" and the dam has "aa" and "dd," this Chestnut must have:
Aa B_ Cc Dd E_
These two of the BMB-5 kindle are Agoutis. The one on the right is a Chestnut and the other is a Chinchilla.
A Chestnut Agouti has this genotype:
A_ B_ C_ D_ E_
Because the sire has "cc" and the dam has "aa" and "dd," this Chestnut must have:
Aa B_ Cc Dd E_
A Chinchilla Agouti has this genotype with "cchd" for dark (cchl is for light):
A_ B_ cchd_ D_ E_
Because the sire has "cc" and the dam has "aa" and "dd," this Chinchilla must have:
Aa B_ cchdc Dd E_
As you can see, the Chinchilla allele removes almost all the yellow, which is the base color on the hair shaft so where the yellow shows on the Chestnut, silver (white) shows on the Chinchilla. Lovely coloring, but then I am quite partial to all variations of grey fur.
It is because any Red Eyed White must have "cc," two of the most recessive of the five (some say six) different alleles on the C-locus, that any one of the more dominate alleles from the other parent will reveal itself in its offspring. So, the only way the kit can be a Chinchilla is that the doe is carrying it. She does not show it because she also has the most dominate "C" allele. However, since I have learned that even though Chinchilla is recessive, it has some co-dominate traits, so it will removed some of the black also, at least on a rabbit that does not have a dominate "C" allele.
Now I know that Misty Blue has this genotype:
aa B_ Ccchd dd E_
There really is absolutely no reason a Silver Fox should carry Chinchilla—cannot say I am happy about it either!—but since it would be a well hidden gene in breeding to other Silver Fox purebreds, unless one had a more recessive allele on the C-locus, it could have been passed along without a breeder knowing. Makes me think that having a REW Silver Fox might not be a bad idea to identify and work to eliminate unwanted alleles on the C-locus in my program. A project for a future time when I have more space and cages perhaps.
As to NZW-B's genotype, I need a few more days to get a good look at the two blacks of BMB-5, because they were kind of another mystery.