Hi!
Let me begin with a personal statement: Yes, I am a huge nerd.

I did undergraduate research in molecular genetics and patterns of heritability, and now that I'm the proud parent of four gliders, it's bugging the bajesus out of me that the genotype/phenotype interactions of certain color variations aren't fully understood. My purpose in creating this post is to ask about well-documented lines (i.e. ones with pictures that I can look up on The Pet Glider Online Database) that demonstrate the heritability of mosaic, white tip, platinum, white face, and ring tail color variations. I've gone over a few mosaic lines (and read TONS of entry-level posts of the subject), but so far all I have are guesses. I don't want to reinvent the wheel here, but I would like some actual lines to work with, rather than inconsistent testimonies. (I shudder every time I read that a supposedly leucistic glider is "plat het.") Also, if anyone would like to speculate about epigenetics or multi-gene traits, here's the place!

Thanks in advance for your help, and I look forward to a great academic discussion with y'all!

P.S. Here is my current understanding and the gaps, feel free to add and correct where needed.

Predictable alleles:
White Face (Dominant...?)
Classic Grey (Fully functional allele)
Leucistic (Recessive)
Cremeino (Recessive)
Albino (Recessive - fully non-functional allele)

Possible epigenetic/multi-gene traits:
Mosaic ?
Black beauty ?
Platinum (or not)?

Candy here is great with genetics (as are others). The database on The Pet Glider site is probably one of the most valuable tools we have available to track lineage and watch what the outcomes are with different pairings.

I'd like to mention that you can contact the folks in Priscilla Prices organization and request that when they have time, to allow you to ask questions and get some great answers.

I'm absolutely NO expert on genetics and am trying to put the pieces together with the help of Priscilla's folks. I have two of her platinums and, I may be wrong, but platinum is recessive. We're currently working on looking at the lineage of my girls and seeing what we can come up with from one of their mosaic (or possibly pied or ringtails) males to find out what some of the possible outcomes may be. This, for me, is strictly going to stay on the novice level as I want to build a couple small family colonies and am intrigued by the colorations that one could achieve...of course, I'm sure I'll have several standard grays with great traits that could then go on to the next generation. LOL

I've also been seeing some issues with 'breeding out'...in that as a trait is passed through several generations it stands to reason that it would become 'watered down' so to speak.

I'm rambling. And interested to see the conversation that starts below!

Here's my current theory. :)

The gene is what codes for the actual pigment protein, the promoter is what modifies the gene's expression.

You may want to take this discussion to Glider Central where you will find many breeders with more long term experience in planned breeding for various colors will participate in the discussion.

There are very few breeders on this forum that are intentionally pairing gliders for their coloration and genetic make up - especially those that have been breeding long enough to observe through several generations.

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I've also been seeing some issues with 'breeding out'...in that as a trait is passed through several generations it stands to reason that it would become 'watered down' so to speak.

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With respect to 'breeding out' - it will not alter or change the specific genes related to coloration of sugar gliders but will expand the genetic diversity of other inherited traits which might include health issues and internal abnormalities that may occur in very closely related gliders.

With each generation of separation between gliders with distant common ancestors (as most leucistic and mosaic gliders have) the chance of a joey inheriting a matched pair of genes for adverse characteristics decreases. That is why we stress breeding gliders with known lineage. Unfortunately, most of what folks are looking at and tracing back in their glider's lineage is ONLY the color patterns. There has not been close attention to recording other information in the lineages such as gliders that die young from specific health issues that could have been the result of inherited abnormalities. There have been some very abnormal joeys (Wiggle-Babies) that show a neurological problem and are all thought to be distant descendants of a specific glider but the records are incomplete for the intervening generations to see if this is indeed an inherited illness (similar to cystic fibrosis in humans or a plethora of other internal and external syndromes that can also be inherited in children whose parents have no way of knowing that they each carry a gene for the syndrome until after a child is born)

The records in the Pet Glider Database are good for pairing gliders with compatible genes for specific coloration but they are not a full genealogy, which would also include all siblings of each glider listed - and the gliders they are paired with and all joeys from these pairings. There are countless gliders sold as pets that are not included in the database whose HEALTH issues might be significant if known - their breeding cousins might also carry the trait but no one is aware of it because there is no history on the affected glider linked to them.