Genetics Guide

Summary of series

Don't want to read the whole guide? Here is a quick summary of what each gene does. However, the other pages in this guide are more indept and explain how the genes interact with each other.

A locus

("agouti series", affect distribution of both black and yellow pigment)

A - Agouti pattern of banded hair. Wild rabbit look with different color of bands all over the body. Has lighter color fur around eyes, nape of neck, feet, legs, inside ears, and white belly. (Chestnut or Castor)

at - Tan pattern. The rabbit has cream or white markings around eyes, nape of neck, feet, legs, inside ears, and belly. (Otter)

a - Sel-colored. The rabbit is solid colored. (Black, Blue, Chocolate).

B locus

("chocolatie series", affects color of black pigment)

B - Black. In agouti (A_) it has black banks; in self (aa) it's solid black.

b - Chocolate. In agouti (A_) the bands are chocolate and it becomes a chocolate chestnut; in self (aa), it's solid brown/chocolate.

C locus

("color series", affect intensity of pigment

C - Full color development. All bands of hair remains normally colored (black or yellow pigment is untouched).

cchd - Dense (regular) chinchilla. Dilutes all yellow pigment to white.

cchl - Light chinchilla. Causes shading; cchlcchl creates seal and cchlch/cchlc creates sable.

ch - Himalayan. Creates points on ear, nose, feet, and tail. Is heat sensitive, so markings may vary.

c - Albino. Creates a solid white rabbit with red eyes; will cover all other genes so can hide many different genotypes.

D locus

("dilution series", affects intensity of both black and yellow pigment)

D - Dense coat, or full color. Black remains black, orange remains orange, etc.

d - Diluted coat or washed out color. Black becomes blue, orange becomes cream, etc.

Du locus

("dutch series")

Du - Absence of the Dutch pattern. Dudu rabbits may show slight Dutch markings similar to vienna marked.

du - Dutch pattern is present. Creates a white blaze on the face, band of white around the front half of their body, and white back feet.

Dw locus

("dwarf series")

DwDw - Results in peanuts, which often times leads to death within a few hours of birth or manual cull.

Dwdw - Dwarf/true dwarf. Results in a smaller rabbit in the dwarf breeds, and is showable.

dwdw - Normal sized or false dwarf. This results in a slightly larger rabbit, but is not showable.

E locus

("extenision series", affects distribution of yellow pigment)

Es - Steel. In agouti it makes the middle band of hair dark, and makes the landmarks darker and leaves the lighter guard hair causing ticking. Double steel (EsEs) will result in a poorly marked steel, or solid black rabbit (hidden steel). When combined with the other genes, steel may either show, be poorly marked, or also solid.

E - Normal extension of dark pigment.

ej - Japense brindle. Creates patches of black and orange fur similar to tortoiseshell cats. When combined with broken (Enen) or charlie (EnEn), the brindling will turn into spots.

e - Non-extension. Causes all black pigments to disappear, leaving orange or cream.

En locus

("english spotting series", affects distribution of pigment)

EnEn - English spotting that causes only about 25% or less of color to show, usually on the face or head and occasionally on the body. (Charlie)

Enen - English spotting that results in 75% or more color on the body. (Broken)

enen - Solid colored. Causes normal coloring without white spotting.

Si locus

("silver series")

Si - No affect on color.

si - Silving, causes silver white hair or silver tipped hair to mix with regular colored hair through the body.

V locus

("vienna series", affects distribution of pigment

VV - Normal coat color.

V - Results in dutch-like markings on colored coat, or colored spots on white coat. Depending on the intensity of vienna in certain lines, it may not show at all. May result in blue or heterochromia eyes.

vv - Results in a white rabbit with blue eyes. Blue-eyed white will cover all colors except red-eyed white (when combined, the rabbit may have purple/lavender colored eyes).

W locus

("wide band series", affect intensity of yellow pigment)

W - Normal width of the middle yellow or white band in agouti.

w - Double with of the middle yellow or white band in agouti.

Summary of the summary

A locus

A - agouti
at - tan point
a - self

B locus

B - black
b - chocolate

C locus

C - full color
cchd - dense chinchilla
cchl - light chinchilla
ch - himalayan
c - albino, red-eyed white

D locus

D - dense color
d - diluted color

Du locus

Du - solid color
du - dutch marked

Dw locus

DwDw - peanuts, lethal
Dwdw - dwarf sized
dw - normal sized

E locus

Es - steel
E - full extension
ej - japense harlequin
e - non-extension

En locus

EnEn - english spotting (charlie)
Enen - english spotting (broken)
en - solid color

Si locus

Si - solid color
si - silver ticking

V locus

VV - solid color
Vv - vienna marked
vv - blue-eyed white

W locus

W - normal band
w - wide band