By Nanna M. Andersen | Published: 09.02.22 | Edited: 03.07.23 | Oversat til dansk: 16.07.23 (klik på Læs mere) The Agouti locus serves as the foundation for all known rat colors. A rat can either have an Agouti-based coat or a non-agouti-based coat. The Agouti gene is represented by the letter "A" and is the dominant gene on this locus. The second allele is "a," known as the non-agouti allele, which is recessive. The recessive form creates Black when homozygous. The Agouti allele causes the hairs to have a ticked appearance, meaning the hairs are divided into three bands. The base of the hair is grey, the middle section is fawn to beige in tone, and the tip reflects the base color. In Figure 1, there is a rough representation of six different Agouti-based varieties:
Now let's consider the non-agouti allele "a," which gives us Black rats. When a rat has two small "a" alleles, it is non-agouti based or commonly known as Black based in the hobby. Unlike the Agouti-based varieties, the hairs of non-agouti rats appear solid in color instead of ticked. However, this does not mean that the pigment in Black based rats is always solid from roots to tips, as there are exceptions. In Figure 2, there is a rough representation of six different non-agouti-based varieties:
Non-agouti colors tend to have a slightly lighter color at the roots, partly due to their undercoat being lighter than their guard hairs. Some varieties, such as Blue, can have a much lighter base, ranging from light grey to almost white at the roots. Although not desirable, this light root color is commonly observed in the Blue variety. The same can be said of Mock Mink.
In summary, the Agouti locus consists of two genes:
The key points is:
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