Allelic Mutations

Current data from the results of breeding trials indicate that the gene known as "ultra" is an allele to Amelanism. It is also believed that the motley and stripe mutants are alleles to each other. (See Genetics chapter to learn about alleles.)

Since this concept is often confusing to people who have only had to deal with simple-recessive genetics, this chapter explains the consequences of allelic mutants in detail. It cannot be explained or understood in the terms of simple-recessive genetics. It is necessary to have a grasp on basic genetics (including the true meanings of locus, allele, and het) before the information here can be properly absorbed. If you do not understand the meanings of locus and allele, this chapter will be meaningless.

To start off, let's look at how amelanism has been known to work. There are two alleles that were known to exist at the "Albino" locus: normal and amel.

Allele	Symbol	Max Melanin Production
Normal		100%
Amel		0%

When these 2 alleles are paired in the 3 possible combinations, we get the familiar results:

Gene Pair	Max Melanin Production	Type
(100) (100)	200%	Normal
(100) (0)	100%	Normal
(0) (0)	0%	Amelanistic

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