Agouti Gene In Animals

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The definition of the Agouti gene is ‘The Agouti gene is responsible for determining whether a mammal's coat is banded (agouti) or of a solid colour (non-agouti)’. The agouti gene can be found in many animals, such as: German Shepard’s/Husky’s Bay horses Tabby Cats Cats Mice Rabbits Deer And more! The agouti gene is responsible for determining whether an animals coat is banded (agouti) or solid, (non-agouti). The primary product of the agouti gene is something called agouti-signalling-peptide, or ASP for short, but there are a number of other products. In dogs, there are a number of colours and patterns that are a possible as a result of the agouti gene, such as sable and tan points. Agouti in CATS Bengals and tabby cats have…show more content…
The main gene sets are A – Agouti, B – Black/Brown, C – Colour Saturation, D – Dilution of Colour and E – Extension of colour. Other gene sets include V – Vienna which produces blue-eyed whites, En – which gives the broken pattern in Holland Lops and Du which gives the Dutch colour pattern. The Agouti gene set has three possible genes. They are list in order of dominance: A, at and a. The A gene is the typical wild rabbit colour pattern. Rabbits with this gene would have white bellies, white eye circles and white on the underside of the tail. The individual hairs on a rabbit possessing the A gene will have colour…show more content…
One pattern that can be put on top of the basic to make the agouti pattern. This is the familiar mixture of white hairs as the base colour. Since this is top layer over the basic colour, the result is six choices for colour: black, dark brown, medium brown, black agouti, dark brown agouti, and medium brown agouti. The agouti pattern varies in intensity, so that shades within the pattern are variable with some lighter and others darker. The agouti pattern is dominant to its absence, so agoutis are expected to sometimes produce solids, but two solids mated together should never produce an agouti. In the few instances in which this happens a further investigation usually reveals that one parent is a very dark

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