Question: Baby genetics question!

[Spartacus]

Okay, so I have three sets of babies, who all have some form of albino gene, mostly recessive. I just want to know if I can match them all up to create albinos, or whether only certain pairs will work.
I have:
1. Wildtypes from a golden albino/leucistic pair up. There genotype is AaMMDd. I've been told crossbreeding these alone would create albinos, but I'd rather avoid crossbreeding.

2. Leucistics from an albino/leucistic pairing.

3. Golden albinos from two golds.

Can the wilds and leucistics be paired up? Or is cross breeding wilds to wilds, and leucys to leucys the only way to go? Also, are the golds any use to me in this?

Thanks a lot

Sarah

 

[Boomsloth]

Okay, so I have three sets of babies, who all have some form of albino gene, mostly recessive. I just want to know if I can match them all up to create albinos, or whether only certain pairs will work.
I have:
1. Wildtypes from a golden albino/leucistic pair up. There genotype is AaMMDd. I've been told crossbreeding these alone would create albinos, but I'd rather avoid crossbreeding.

2. Leucistics from an albino/leucistic pairing.

3. Golden albinos from two golds.

Can the wilds and leucistics be paired up? Or is cross breeding wilds to wilds, and leucys to leucys the only way to go? Also, are the golds any use to me in this?

Thanks a lot

Sarah

You can cross any of these and have an albino offspring but the albino gene alone is what can produce the golden albinos. If you want a light albino then try to do the leucistic with the wildtype a some should be both leucistic and albino.

 

[Spartacus]

Sorry, I didn't clarify, when I say albino, I mean white albino, with the red/pink eyes. Or axanthic, or whaetever they all are. Not golden albino, got plenty of ways to get those haha.
I'm glad the wild x leucy match-up will work like I was hoping.
So the goldens aren't really necessary? or they could go with either wild or leucy and still get some white albinos? Sorry, just want to be sure I completely understand

 

[Boomsloth]

unless the goldens are somehow carriers of leucism then pairing them with either won't produce the white albinos you're looking for.

 

[Spartacus]

I don't believe they are. One I'm 90% sure is offspring of my other two goldens, and the other is a really pale gold, but probably doesn't carry leucism.
Thanks a lot very helpful. I struggle to understand the genetics very well. Can you possibly explain why that won't work? If you can't be bothered, that's fine, I just like to understand.
Thanks

 

[Boomsloth]

http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...olotl-gallery/96144-axolotl-colors-genes.html

This might help you understand better. I really tried to lay out the basics of the genes function.

 

[Spartacus]

I understand the very basics, I understand what all my axolotls genotype is, but it's dealing with their babies, adding in recessives, and what their offspring would be, that gets me confused. Too many layers of genetics to figure out haha. Thanks, that is useful though, helps me understand some parts clearer than what I already knew

 

[auntiejude]

So if you're trying to produce a leucistic albino, you need both sets of recessive genes.

If you pair a wildtype from group one (D/d and A/a) and one of the babies from group 2 (d/d and A/a) you should get about 10-15% leucistic albinos.

However, if you want to create a pure breeding line you will need to breed sibling with sibling, or at least cousin with cousin.

 

[Spartacus]

Really? Can you please explain why that is?

 

[Boomsloth]

I can answer the pure breeding line question. Sibling or cousin breeding can ultimately result in individuals that are both homozygous for albino and leucistic. So these individuals can be bred together to produce 100% white albinos.

In-breeding can cause genetic defects to arise as the genetic diversity becomes constrained. However it is not normally a one generation thing. It takes many generations to produce a significant amount of defects to begin to be noticable. Almost all axolotls arise from some level of inbreeding in their ancestry, and most colors today are a result of inbreeding as well. Do not be too concerned about inbreeding for only a few generations. You could always breed an outside white albino to them later on to add some diversity back to yours.

 

[auntiejude]

Really? Can you please explain why that is?

I'm assuming the 3 groups you have are the only breeding sock available to you, since your quest for a leucistic albino depends on breeding rather than purchase.

Assuming you successfully cross 2 axies and produce both a male and a female leucistic albinos you would need to breed these 2 siblings to get 100% leucistic albino offspring (a pure line). Even if you end up with several breeding pairs from your first crossing the next generation they produce will still be closely related - cousins as they share common grandparents.

If you have other axies to breed from and can get a leucistic albino from another genetic line all well and good, but Boomsloth is quite right in that axies are already inbred to a significant degree. But pairings of closely related animals are generally not advised.

 

[Spartacus]

Currently, yes. The wildtypes are mine, and the leucistics come from somebody else, so they are not related to each other. Opportunities for getting an albino are fairly rare here, so I'm trying to breed my own.
So if I cross two wildtypes together, and two leucistics, and they both have albinos which I keep to breeding age, would it be better to inbreed them again, or do a wild x leucy match up for the second generation?

Sorry for all the questions, just want to get my head around it all.