B gene?
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Re: B gene?
It's not true to my knowledge. I've not heard a single researcher (in horses) refer to it as even a possibility.
That person drives me crazy.
I personally believe sooty and Bend Ors are actually black pigment. It SHOULD be easy to find out but I've never heard of anyone trying.
Re: B gene?
In the past chestnut was thought to be on the B locus and be related to liver/chocolate in other species, probably due to it's simple recessive nature. Its now known not be, and I've read somewhere there is no mutation of the B locus in horses, at least not that has been recognised. Some very old books and papers link chestnut to the B locus, maybe thats where they got their info from.
Re: B gene?
Don't know anything about the B locus, but in response to whether ee's are able to produce pheomelanin instead of just eumelanin, I'm pretty sure the answer would be in this paper:
Sponenberg DP, Ito S, Eng LA, Schwink K. "Pigment Types of Various Color Genotypes of Horses" [i]Pigment Cell Research[/i], 1988, Vol. 1, Iss. 6, p. 410-413
(which I don't have access to... does anyone else?)
Re: B gene?
[quote]Horses are believed to be homozygous at the B locus that in dogs gives you liver skin pigment, so even though the hair in a chestnut is reddish the skin underneath is black. [/quote]
I guess she says that because there ISN'T a mutation of B in horses, so she's just making the assumption that horses are the 'B' dominant form...??
B in dogs is definitely a sort of dilute I reckon, not as much as the identified dilute gene, but it turns both the skin and hair to that liver colour, eyes to yellow etc..
Re: B gene?
We had the writing about the B gene in my equine production class notes. Someone told me that horses don't have the whole liver vs. black, though. The notes listed which breeds it happened in, but I can't remember. I will say that the "light black" and "light bay" horses make me wonder if liver exists in some form, but I can't say I'm sure of the genetics behind that locus.
I think the notes said they had chocolate brown hair, and purplish black skin? I'll try to find what it said when I get home.