Heterozygous: Possessing two different forms of a particular gene, one inherited from each parent. A person who is heterozygous is called a heterozygote or a gene carrier.

a genotype consisting of two different alleles of a gene for a particular trait (Aa).

So all in all it means that if one of the allele providers (parents) have a trait that is desired, and unless you find another heterozygote with the same trait (or recesive allele) and play the odds that you might get a homozygote offsping it would be in your best interest to stay with the homozygotes if you are breeding for a spasific trait.

EG:
A = Dominate gene
a = Recessive gene

Aa + Aa = 25% chance of AA or aa and 75% chance of Aa
AA + Aa = 75% chance of AA and 25% chance of Aa
AA + AA = 100% chance of AA
aa + aa = 100% chance of aa


If you are breeding for a recessive trait your odds greatly improve when useing homozygotes.


*******this has been extremely simplified I know there are a lot move variables bit please realize not everyone has a grasp on genetics*****

Yes, to say a sugar glider is 100% heterozygous is just plain stupid. It shows that these breeding programs are done by amateurs when it comes to understanding the basics of genetics. This lack of understanding of what they're doing will result in the same situation that has happened to Canis lupus familiaris where different breeds have specific medical conditions. There is already a situation where certain colorations have specific medical conditions, such as heart defects and malformed genitals. Unfortunately, this will only get worse as people desire unnatural, rare colorations.

All that stuff gives me a head ache.
I saw this show on TV about this family that walks on all 4's. They say that they(the parents) are closely related and obviously have some messed up genes. I am trying to find some video of them,it's scary!
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/allfours/about.html

Ok, i found a video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gNKNo55jdE

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very interesting, wish i could watch the whole thing. wonder when they will air it again.

i always thought 100% anything meant they had the trait in question, and it must be recessive.

I can make those little charts from like 8th grade science, heheh.

I agree with everything Eric said too, I've been told that some colors most of the males are sterile, which raises a flag to me.

Thank you everyone I thought it was just me. I would love to see the whole vid on that family.

That is really interesting, I had never heard of that family. Wish I could see the whole thing.

It was on last week on PBS. It was a sad show. They tried to make it all scientific, but i think it ended up being inbreeding.They had 12 kids,7 of them in 5 years.

how do they come up with the different colors, is it inbreeding or what? i am trying to learn what and everything i can (health,diet,etc) sorry if my questions seemed ridiculous but i won't know unless i ask.

quote:

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Originally posted by imyosuggie

terrispettingzoo.com/zoo/genetics.php

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I'm curious why you posted a link to that site.

I think it's a very good example of how amateurish the understanding of genetics is with sugar glider breeders. The article makes wrong assumptions about what Leucism and Albinism are, as well as using wrong terminology.

I think it started from inbreeding suggieluv...

Actucally someone told me to get the chances of more colors is when the mother has a baby, breed the mother with the boy and the father with the girl....

Wouldnt this cause problems?

My question is, where does it originally start? Bear with me here, this is definitely not my area. I guess it's just like someone that's born albino? (Not that people breed humans, but I don't know what else to use as an example) Say someone thought albinos were "cool" and found another albino person to reproduce with. I don't even know if it's a hereditary condition, but say those albinos produced an albino baby...and that this person had a small colony of albino people. HOLY CRAP this is getting weird...anyone want to buy my idea for a book or something?? LOL Anyway, if people in that colony started inbreeding, just to keep everyone albinos, I guess that's where it would all start?

Wow, I probably just made it worse and it didn't come out like I was thinking it...

As I understand genetics - VERY BASIC UNDERSTANDING that is - the offspring gets part of it's genes from the mom, and part from the dad. There are dominant and recessive genes. Without extensive laboratory research on genetics of the particular breedings, how can anyone actually say that their glider is any color %, and why can some colors be "het" and other colors not? It makes no logical sense to me. I really feel that breeders are only passing on information as it has occurred within their breeding program, except it is being presented as factual information rather than their personal experience. Just my opinion! Not trying to offend anyone - I just like to see proof rather than "he said, she said".

I know for a fact that albinism are recessive traits, and about 1 in 70 people carry the traits. (Found this on wikipedia with another link to their source)

I do know that an albino animal/person has poorer eyesight and therefore in the wild these gliders would probably rejected/cannibilized or at least killed first. I mean look how well my Neo blended in with this tree



An albino glider would be a huge predator alert, I'm sure they exist in the wild, but due to the outstanding color and limited visibility albino animals die earlier and faster in the wild. It's survival of the fittest for sure.

I believe its all started from being imbred (suggies)

I have no idea about genetics/inbreeding...but the white faces I have seen in person are beautiful and seem to have a calmer personality????

I have 3 plain o grays and love them....I did not even know their were some with "color" until I came here...I could not imagine paying $1500.00 for one and having it get sick and die...and if you had a pair..$3000.00...INSANE....people that have that kind of money to spend should look into charities that need help..with foreclosures being so HIGH it is upsetting to see that amount spent for a pet....jobs are letting ppl go..ppl that have kids to feed...$1500.00 could buy alot of food... well now that I have made myself sad...think I'll go look at my grays...and be happy that I have them......

I agree with you Roz. the pricing is insane and people and children are starving and homeless. Wow now I am starting to feel guilty for buying my suggies in the first place and all of the sets I bought for them... the cage was the cost of 2 suggies.... when you think about it I've already put 1500.00 or more towards my gliders so I can't say that's really any better. But guess what I love my suggies and I wouldn't give them up for anything in the world!!!!

I knew about the colorations when I purchased our suggies but I actually like the gray ones the best. The albino ones would just creep me out they look kinda like white rats. Not that I am afraid of or hate rats but they just arent cute to me.

I have known one human albino. She had health problems and her vision was very bad. She had to wear very thick glasses and one of her eyes would look in another direction then the other.

I would have to say that I dont think it is smart to breed suggies to get certain colors. It is just setting the babies up for health problems.

So, here's what I know about the genes. (Some good has to come out of the genetics class I took ;) )

The first post about the percentages of outcomes was right except for the first one. If you have an Aa that you cross with an Aa you have a 25% chance of getting an AA, a 25% chance of getting an aa, and a 50% chance of getting an Aa.

I'm guessing that the percentages they are referring to are the percent chance of what they are, since there is no way to tell until these offspring start breeding. On a normal grey there's no way to tell, just by looking at it, whether it's AA or Aa, they will look the same. Their offspring however will be where that recessive gene shows up if they have it. If you cross an AA with an aa, there is a 100% chance the offspring is heterozygous, or Aa.

As far as where the color came from, it is a genetic mutation of the gene for color. There is also probably some other ill health effects associated with this mutation so if you cross 2 recessives there is not only a 100% chance to get the recessive color gene, but also more of a chance to get the genes that cause ill health effects. That's why inbreeding is such a problem, it just keeps passing around those bad genes, however when you outbreed, it's possible to lose the ill effects genes and keep the color genes. That' why it's preferable to cross heterozygous as opposed to homozygous recessives.

Just my two cents. Hope it helps!

WHAA???[?!!! O_o

haha it makes sense.

this video is like catmans but sicker look how their body is its like twisted eh that just creeps me out!!! and it is so sad too!

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oh my... i really don't know what to say :(