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Harlequin Genetics
Topic Started: Apr 18 2012, 09:54 PM (2,182 Views)
The Thicket Rabbitry
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Somebunny is a awfully chatty
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Okie dokie, we need some help on the Harlequin color. My mom is obsessed with the color. :)

First of all, non-extension cannot carry Harlequin correct? All other colors can carry it?

If you breed a Harlequin to a random color, will the babies all be carriers? Is there a percentage that the babies will or won't carry it?

I have heard that the most compatible colors for Harlequin are Orange and Tort. Is this true? Why?

Thanks a bunch!
Edited by The Thicket Rabbitry, Apr 18 2012, 09:54 PM.
The Thicket Rabbitry
Jackie, Erin and Heather, and our many beautiful bunnies!
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NeuBunny
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start with the caveat that I don't do harlequins myself - so this is entirely theory based on my reading...

The harlequin pattern is caused by an 'E series allele'. ej is dominant over non-extension, so non-extension can never hide it. It is recessive to full extension, so E hides ej. Interaction with steel (Es) is weird - the two genes can effectively cancel each other out, so while it is possible to have a rabbit with both steel and harlequin genes, it would be more usual for that rabbit to appear black rather than steel.

The best match for harlequin is harlequin. Any other color likely lacks the modifiers to get patches with nice clear edges in the correct alternating pattern.
Second best match is tri-color (which is essentially a harlequin with a broken gene adding white). Be sure to use a tri-color only if its patches are a good match to the harlequin standard (large alternating patches, not random splotches).

Although harlequin can express with a self (aaej-), self harlequins supposedly don't have as clear patches as agouti harlequins (A-ej-). That means that red/orange (A-ee) is a better match than tort (aaee). Note that you can't tell at all whether the orange or tort is hiding the correct modifier genes needed to get correct patching. So that's a risk. An orange/tort with harlequin in its pedigree would be a better match than one without that. That said, it may sometimes make sense to cross in an orange or tort -- say if you have a tort with really awesome color intensity or an orange with high rufus or even a body type you want to introduce to your harlequin line.
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sidd-says-gimme
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Since harlies are supposed to be orange with black patches (agouti/wideband), you usually shouldn't use a tort. You can get torts instead of oranges with black patches, which isn't ideal.
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CrazyTurkey
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NeuBunny
Apr 19 2012, 05:44 AM
...
Note that you can't tell at all whether the orange or tort is hiding the correct modifier genes needed to get correct patching. ...
This is an interesting point. I've noticed that crossing tris to non-tri carriers has resulted in tris and harlequins with next to no black/blue/chocolate/lilac at all, so there's got to be some sort of modifier in their somewhere. It'd be interesting to see how it works with harlequins as well.
Anywho!

Tris (ej) can be bred with a good deal of colors. Castors/chesnuts are good choices, but you'll end up with agoutis that have slight barring/brindling, rendering them unshowable. Otters would be a good choice too (not martins though, no chinchilla genes with tris!!), but the same thing would happen. If you are working exclusively on tri-colors, though, this wouldn't really be that big of an issue I suppose.
Selfs (black, blue, lilac, chocolate) are okay to use, but you can get, like Neubunny said, self-based or torted tris (Wildriver's shaded mini rex guide...right after the tort otter), which in varieties that tri color is accepted in is unshowable. You could also run into problems with color distribution, as mentioned before.
IMO, your best bet would be to use bright, boldly marked harlequins and agoutis (chesnuts/castor) or otters. Great thing about the otters and agoutis is that you can see the orange/red so you know if it's nice and bright. I'd stay far far away from anything other than full-color animals (this means all chinchillas, martins, basically anything shaded) and torts. Not that torts are bad, but I think for your purpose the other colors would work a little bit better.
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NeuBunny
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adding in chin genes would shift the harlequin from Japanese (orange/black) to magpie (white/black). OK to do if that's what you are going for. Not good with tri as it eliminates the orange and shifts the balance to too much white.
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Disney
Somebunny is a awfully chatty
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A normal harlie would have the genotype ejej right? But there is also the eje am i right?
What is the difference? I've seen rabbits who look like a normal orange with little black on them.. what is that?
Does the rabbit come out as a mix between a Orange and Harlequin, being both at the same time? ee + j (orange with harlequin markigns)
Or would it be a normal Harli carrying non-extension ej + e (harlequin carrying orange)

Im sorry if i make this more confusing than it already is..
Edited by Disney, Apr 21 2012, 07:11 AM.
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NeuBunny
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e is totally recessive to ej. Which means ejej and eje should look identical. Normal harli carrying non-extension.
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SpotLover
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Breeding harlequin with tort is a huge no-no. You can get torted harlequins, which nobody wants. Orange, tri, magpie, harlequin and fawn make great matches with harlequin.
Rainefall Rabbitry
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Harlequin's in black, blue, & chocolate
Japanese and Magpie
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LaurenW
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So... the best Harlequin is an Agouti Harlequin? If I am understanding this right, a self harlequin would also be by default a "tort" harlequin? I base this on the need for 2 non extension genes to be present with at least one Japanese gene to show the Harle pattern. If this is correct then FINALLY maybe I have this straight lol :)
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NeuBunny
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LaurenW
Apr 23 2012, 04:45 PM
So... the best Harlequin is an Agouti Harlequin? If I am understanding this right, a self harlequin would also be by default a "tort" harlequin? I base this on the need for 2 non extension genes to be present with at least one Japanese gene to show the Harle pattern. If this is correct then FINALLY maybe I have this straight lol :)
Yes, my understanding is that the best harlequins are agouti harlequin (A-ej-).

I'm not sure I follow 'tort harlequin' either. Someone explain please what that is? Is that just a better way to refer to what I would call a self harlequin (aaej-) or is something more involved in the genetics? I've read that the self harlequins are 'not as well colored' but are there specific differences in the pattern/color that would let you identify these?

Can't have two non-extension plus a japanese gene -- both japanese (ej) and non-extension (e) are 'E series' genes and you can only have two total.

ejej or eje are both harlequin. I suspect the former is preferred (if for no other reason than because it will breed true) but my understanding was that the ej was completely dominant over e and so both look the same.







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LaurenW
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So the problem with getting correct harlequins lies at the beginning of the Gene Equation.. not with the non extension/jap combo. If there are two self genes then tort as well as Harlequin can BOTH express themselves.. they are both co-dominant i believe. That is why its better to put a red into the mix because of the Agouti gene which would then stamp out the self and therefore the tort effect...
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CrazyTurkey
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A torted tri (dark points like a tort and sometimes will have the grey shading around the hips and stomach), would be aa_ej_, or a self based tri. There's also a theory floating around that you can have a non-torted self-based tri, but it most NOT carry the non-extension gene. So it would have to be: aa_ejej. It's an interesting theory for sure. I think I may have a doe like this right now...she's clearly NOT torted, has the agouti lining around eyes and ears, no grey, nice bright color. She has never thrown a tort when bred to a known "e" carrier, but she has never thrown anything agouti either, even when bred to a black buck.

Torty tris do have a place in a breeding program, provided they have excellent type/fur, so I wouldn't totally discount them. I read somewhere that culling all torted tris would be like culling all the Vienna marked animals in a BEW program and I agree. You can't show them, but it's an easy fix for the next generation.

I don't think there's necessarily a pattern, aside from the darkened points and grey shading, that would show up in a torted tri. In my experience animals that are "ejej" usually have much better color distribution than a torted tri, but that's just in my experience.
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The Thicket Rabbitry
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Will the offspring of one Harlequin parent carry the Harlequin gene? What if both parents are Harlequin?

My mother bred a Harlequin to a Blue. There is a Blue baby and a Black baby in the litter. Do they carry the Harlequin gene or is there a certain percentage that they will?

Also, could the Harlequin to Blue breeding produce an Orange? It looks like we have one.

By the way, thank you all for your information. I have printed it all out. Very helpful.
Edited by The Thicket Rabbitry, Apr 24 2012, 08:08 PM.
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CrazyTurkey
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If both parents are harlequin (assuming they are both "ejej," or homozygous tri-carrier), all the babies will be harlequins.
If both parents carry non-extension ("eje"), you should have a 25% chance of getting an "ee" baby, which would likely be a tort. If one carries "e," you'll get all tris and 25% chance of having them carry "e."

Also, if your harlequin is agouti based there's a chance that it's an orange. If it's not agouti based it's likely a harlequin with poor color distribution. I've noticed this when crossing a non-tri carrier with a tri...seems to throw babies with small amounts of black/blue/etc.
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reh
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I am reading here for a while, but no i registered for this thread.

The ej gene (which should be written as eJ for his dominance behaviour) is not as simple as you may think. It actually is dominant in the dark parts, even on E. But it is most recessive on the light parts, even to e. Thats the cause, why in an eJeJ rabbit you cant watch the agouti gene (no torted harlekins).
The scientist Luca Fontanesi has investigated the extension serie and he found, that the transcript needed to produce the protein from the extension gene can only detected in the dark areas ( http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2156/11/59 ). That means, the ej gene works similar like ES in the dark parts,but its not expressed in the light parts. Therefore its completely recessive there. So a heterocygout eJ gene can only be seen in light fur parts, but not in f.e. black rabbits.

Agouti and extension are parts of the same signaling pathway.The extension gene builds an receptor, sitting in the membran of the pigment making cell (melanocyte) and responding to different ligands.
If the melanocyte stimulating hormon (MSH) binds to this receptor it gives a signal to the cell and the cell produces dark pigment (eumelanin).
The agouti serie is the construction manual for another ligand for this receptor, its only produced in the time the light band is growing. It prevents the MSH to bind to the receptor, so the MSH cant cause any signaling --> no signal --> the cell produces light pigment.

Now back to eJ:
In eJeJraabits
dark patches resemble ESES --> dark pigment, no light bands.
light patches have no receptors --> light pigment, no dark pigment, no dark hair tips.
Posted Image Posted Image

In eJe raabits
dark patches resemble ESe --> dark pigment, no light bands.
light patches have (fewer) e receptors, therefor looks like ee rabbits --> light pigment with more or fewer dark pigment like in tort, red or fox (torted otter) according to the A serie gene (its able to get aaee rabbits with nearly no shading, looking like red himis in markings, so there are a lot of abilities).
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In EeJ raabits with A
dark patches resemble ESE --> narrow light bands like in steel rabbits.
light patches have (fewer) E receptors, therefor looks like normal agouti rabbits --> light pigment with more or fewer dark pigment like in tort, red or fox (torted otter) according to the A serie gene.
Posted Image

On at the steel patches appear only in the otter markings:
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eJe rabbits tend to have fewer dark patches then eJeJ ones.
Sometimes it could be as few as nothing, so you may have a eJe rabbit looking completely yellow or having only some single dark hairs anywhere. Thats the cause that EeJ can be seen in some agouti rabbits but not on all (mostly you can detect it on the belly of some day old kits).


If one parent carries "e," you'll get 50% chance of having them carry "e".
www.rabbitcolors.info - Images and Gene Codes
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