Zen Mousery - Genetics

Mouse Genetics

These genetics resources include only those genes I know to be in Australia. First is a listing of each individual gene we have, followed by the colours that use that gene. Each colour is linked to a fuller description of the colour, including a photo, its standard (if standardised), genotype(s), and any notes regarding common faults, breeding tips, or anything else.

I have only included the more commonly-seen colours, based on what I see bred and shown in the AusRFS (NSW). There are, of course, almost limitless combinations of the genes given here, and just because I haven't included information about a lilac agouti colourpoint beige, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

**WORK IN PROGRESS**

Reference Table

A(y)	= Lethal Yellow	Fawn, Ginger, Sable, Black-Eyed White, Cream, Silver Sable, Cream Sable, Straw
A(vy)	= Viable Yellow	Brindle, Snowtiger, Cream Brindle
A	= Agouti	Agouti, Argente, Cinnamon, Apricot, Blue Agouti, Blue Argente, Chinchilla, Silver Agouti, Argente Cream, Agouti Siamese, Agouti Burmese, Bone Agouti
a(t)	= Tan	Tan, Fox
a	= Non-Agouti	Black, Dove, Chocolate, Champagne, Blue, Silver, Lilac, Lavender, Havana, Mock-Chocolate, Coffee, Bone, Siamese, Himalayan, Burmese, Colourpoint Beige

B	= Non-Diluted	...
b	= Chocolate	Chocolate, Champagne, Lilac, Lavender, Cinnamon, Apricot

C	= Non-Diluted	...
c	= Albino	Pink-Eyed White, Himalayan, Bone, Mock-Chocolate, Chinchilla, Argente Cream
c(h)	= Himalayan	Siamese, Burmese, Himalayan, Colourpoint Beige, Agouti Siamese, Agouti Burmese
c(ch)	= Chinchilla	Chinchilla, Silver Agouti, Argente Cream, Havana, Mock-Chocolate, Cream, Cream Sable, Cream Brindle
c(e)	= Extreme Dilute	Coffee, Bone, Bone Agouti, Mock-Chocolate, BEW, Silver Sable, Snowtiger
c(rs)	= Reverse Siamese	Reverse Siamese

D	= Non-Diluted	...
d	= Blue	Blue, Silver, Lilac, Lavender, Blue Agouti, Blue Argente, Straw

P	= Non-Diluted Eyes	...
p	= Pink Eyes	Ginger, Dove, Champagne, Silver, Lavender, Argente, Apricot, Blue Argente, Argente Cream

U	= Umbrous	Sable, Silver Sable, Cream Sable
u	= Non-Umbrous	...

[PIC]	Name:	Black
	Genotype:	aa
	Standard:	A deep lustrous black with no flecking or rusting. Eyes black.
	Notes:	It's quite common to see white or grey ticking on the flanks of Black mice, this is a fault. A Black, undiluted mouse is often a good outcross to darken many diluted colours.

[PIC]	Name:	Dove
	Genotype:	A* pp
	Standard:	A warm soft grey, distinguished from silver by its warmth. Eyes pink.
	Notes:	Pink-eyed Black. Dove is extremely variable, ranging from anything from pale silver to a medium bluey or browny colour. Somewhere in the middle is more desirable. Tends towards a white nose - this is a fault.

[PIC]	Name:	Chocolate
	Genotype:	aa bb
	Standard:	A mid chocolate brown colour, resembling milk chocolate, with no hint of red or ginger. Eyes black.
	Notes:	Chocolate-diluted Black. Not as rich as the cordovan brown of overseas mice, more a cool dirt-brown. This colour also suffers from white ticking.

[PIC]	Name:	Champagne
	Genotype:	aa bb pp
	Standard:	A warm, creamy yellow. Eyes pink.
	Notes:	Pink-eyed Chocolate. Much richer and warmer than Dove.

[PIC]	Name:	Blue
	Genotype:	aa dd
	Standard:	A medium slate blue. Colour should resemble the blue colour found in cats. Eyes black.
	Notes:	Blue-diluted Black. A desirable colour. You can find Blue-anything these days - Blue Siamese, Blue Mock-Chocolate, Blue Argente Cream, Blue Brindle. Provides a lovely cool shade to any colour or marking. Poor Blues have heavy heathering, making the coat colour uneven with an almost ticked appearance. Use good quality Black outcrosses to darken and smooth the colour.

[PIC]	Name:	Silver
	Genotype:	aa dd pp
	Standard:	A pale, ice blue, with no hint of browning. Eyes pink.
	Notes:	Pink-eyed Blue. A lovely bright, icy blue - distinguishable from Lavender by the cool hues and richness of colour. Cross to a blueish Dove to improve the colour.

[PIC]	Name:	Lilac
	Genotype:	aa bb dd
	Standard:	A dark metallic silver, neither too blue nor too brown. Eyes black.
	Notes:	Blue- and Chocolate-diluted Black. Colour should be right in between Blue and Chocolate. Comparing side-by-side to a Blue and Chocolate mouse will be the best judge. Suffers from heathering as Blue does - a good quality Black outcross will improve the colour here too.

[PIC]	Name:	Lavender
	Genotype:	aa bb dd pp
	Standard:	Unstandardised.
	Notes:	Pink-eyed Lilac. A pale creamy colour, not too grey nor too brown. Paler than Silver, and almost pinkish in hue.

[PIC]	Name:	Siamese
	Genotype:	aa c(h)c(h)
	Standard:	The coat is to be warm beige over the entire body, shading to a deeper colour on the hindquarters. The colours should blend gradually. Points should be a rich chocolate colour, or as dark as possible, and they should be well defined on the muzzle, and well confined to the whisker, muzzle, rump, tail, ears and feet areas.
	Notes:	A popular colour. Quality of points and presence of shading varies greatly. Select the darkest points and best shading to breed from, and outcross to nice dark Blacks or Chocolates to darken. Males tends to be nicer, and points and shading will improve over age. Points are temperature-dependant, so babies raised in cooler months will have better points.

[PIC]	Name:	Himalayan
	Genotype:	aa c(h)c
	Standard:	The coat is to be as white as possible in colour over the entire body, with well defined points. Points are to be a light milk chocolate, and should conform to the Siamese standard in regards to size and placement, with no shading. Eyes pink or ruby.
	Notes:	As with Siamese, except there is no shading.

[PIC]	Name:	Coffee
	Genotype:	aa c(e)c(e)
	Standard:	A warm, medium brown colour, similar to milked coffee. Eyes black.
	Notes:	Extreme-Diluted Black. An uncommon colour these days. Most examples of c(e) around at the moment are actually c(rs) and not truly c(e), therefore when crossed together, make a Reverse Siamese instead of a Coffee.

[PIC]	Name:	Pink-Eyed White
	Genotype:	aa cc
	Standard:	A snow white, with no hint of flecking, ticking or lemon spotting. Eyes pink or black.
	Notes:	Most PEWs are Albinos, but there are other genotypes possible so as to appear PEW - such as A(y) c(ch)c(ch) pp, or A(y) c(h)c. An Albino PEW is one of the easiest colours to breed and show, though a common fault is yellowing, especially around the rump and groin region of males - washing regularly with a bluing shampoo will keep the coat at its best.

[PIC]	Name:	Blue Agouti
	Genotype:	A* dd
	Standard:	The coat is to have an overall soft straw colour, with steel blue undercoat and blue ticking throughout. The belly is a cool silver. Eyes black.
	Notes:	Blue-diluted Agouti. Sometimes called Opal. The Black hairs are diluted to Blue, the Fawn hairs are diluted to Straw. Quite a variable colour, this seems to range from an overall steely blue appearance right through to the pale orange of Straw. Heavily affected by how much Black/Fawn hairs/tipping is present in the coat, therefore it is important to start with a good, strong Agouti to get an even mixing of Blue and Straw.

[PIC]	Name:	Argente Cream
	Genotype:	A* c(ch)c OR A* c(ch)c(ch) (darker)
	Standard:	The coat is to be a delicate blend of a pale, creamy orange and silver, with the undercoat an extremely pale silvery white. The belly and the inside of the legs is to be white, the outside of the legs to match the top colour. Eyes pink.
	Notes:	Pink-eyed Chinchilla or Silver Agouti. The Black hairs are diluted to white, the Fawn hairs are diluted to a pale creamy orange (*based on phenotype - genotypically, the Black hairs should be pink-eyed Mock-Chocolate and the Fawn hairs should be white, but this doesn't seem to be the case). Due to the linking of the c- and p- loci, this colour is near to impossible to breed from a black-eyed line, you must started with a line that already has Argente Creams (or any other pink-eyed c-dilute, except Himi and Albino) present. This colour suffers heavily from the Black-hairs clumping at the spine, displaying as a nearly white back, and orange showing only at the tail base and face. Outcrosses to very even, or Fawn-heavy ticked mice can useful.

[PIC]	Name:	Burmese
	Genotype:	aa c(ch)c(h)
	Standard:	The coat is to be a dark, rich chocolate. The points are to be as dark as possible, almost black. Points should conform to the Siamese standard in regards to size and placement, with no shading. Eyes black.
	Notes:	As with Siamese, same outcrosses. Points are sadly often poor. Burmese are more difficult to breed than Siamese, being heterozygous.

[PIC]	Name:	Colourpoint Beige
	Genotype:	aa c(h)c(e)
	Standard:	The coat is to be a soft, light brown, similar to milked coffee. The points are to be a medium brown, or as dark as possible. Points should conform to the Siamese standard in regards to size and placement, with no shading. Eyes black.
	Notes:	There are a lot of these around at the moment, due to the number of Reverse Siameses being bred. Due to this, a CPB could be using a c(e) gene, or it could have a c(rs) gene (see Reverse Siamese for more info.)

[PIC]	Name:	Havana
	Genotype:	aa c(ch)c(ch)
	Standard:	A rich, deep brown, almost black, which resembles unmilked coffee. Eyes black.
	Notes:	Chinchillated Black. Often confused with Black (it is so dark that it should appear nearly Black), this colour has a distinctly warm hue. Some Blacks appear faded or greyed out - this is not Havana, more likely that the mouse is carrying dilutes that are affecting the colour. Due to the presence of the Chinchilla genes, it is impossible to have a Havana Tan - they would be Foxes.

[PIC]	Name:	Mock-Chocolate
	Genotype:	aa c(ch)c OR aa c(ch)c(e) (darker)
	Standard:	Unstandardised.
	Notes:	There are two versions of Mock-Chocolate, one with the Albino gene and one with the Extreme-Dilute (or Reverse Siamese) gene (the latter is darker). Both versions can be further diluted by other colours, like Blue. Blue Mock-Chocolate is an attractive colour not unlike Blue Burmese, without the point.

[PIC]	Name:	Bone
	Genotype:	aa c(e)c
	Standard:	A light, warm grey colour. Eyes black.
	Notes:	Phenotypically very similar to Silver Sable (Extreme-Diluted Sable), except without the obesity problems. Quite common in Reverse Siamese lines, as c(rs)c, although due to modifiers in these lines, this can sometimes lead to body shading too dark for a good bone - to almost appear as a Reverse Siamese.

[PIC]	Name:	Agouti
	Genotype:	A*
	Standard:	The coat is to have an overall rich, chestnut brown colour, with dark slate undercoat. There will be black ticking throughout the coat, with black guard hairs, extending over the entire body, including the feet, with the belly being silver-grey. Eyes black.
	Notes:	Wildtype. Characterised by both Black and Fawn hairs, tipping and banding. Young mice tend to be duller and greyer, the Fawn ticking doesn't brighten to standard until the adult coat comes through. A common fault is too much Black down the spine of the mouse. This fault is mirrored in all ticked colours. Beware of crossing Agoutis to mice from Sable lines, the Umbrous gene present in this colour will only serve to darken the spine even more.

[PIC]	Name:	Argente
	Genotype:	A* pp
	Standard:	The coat is to be a warm, rich orange, with dove grey undercoat. There will be grey ticking throughout the coat, with grey guard hairs, and the belly being silvery. Eyes pink.
	Notes:	Pink-eyed Agouti. The Black hairs are diluted to Dove, the Fawn hairs are undiluted. Distinguishable from Apricot by its richer, deeper colour. Common faults are a dull or washed-out colour and too much Dove ticking down the spine. Dove and Fawn hairs should be evenly mixed over the whole body. Crossing to any colour where Fawn is present and bright/clear will help the brightness of this colour.

[PIC]	Name:	Cinnamon
	Genotype:	A* bb
	Standard:	As for Agouti, with gold tan substituting for the rich brown and ticking and undercoat to be of a chocolate brown colour, with the belly colour being a warm mid grey. Eyes black.
	Notes:	Chocolate-diluted Agouti. The Black hairs are diluted to Chocolate, the Fawn hairs are undiluted. Similar to Agouti in all but the overall colour is much warmer and browner - some call this colour Golden Agouti. It suffers from the same faults. Crossing to a Black or Chocolate with no white ticking will help the Chocolate quality.

[PIC]	Name:	Apricot
	Genotype:	A* bb pp
	Standard:	As for Argente, but with a bright creamy undercoat colour, giving a brighter, fresher appearance. The belly colour is a creamy silver. Eyes pink.
	Notes:	Pink-eyed Cinnamon. The Black hairs are diluted to Champagne, the Fawn hairs are undiluted. The overall appearance of this colour is brighter and clearer than Argente, and slightly paler and creamier. Otherwise suffers from the same faults.

[PIC]	Name:	Blue Argente
	Genotype:	A* dd pp
	Standard:	Unstandardised.
	Notes:	Pink-eyed Blue Agouti. Sometimes mistakenly called Silver Agouti, referring to the pink-eyed Blue colour, Silver. The Black hairs are diluted to Silver, the Fawn hairs are diluted to Straw. Somewhat similar to Argente, the giveaway should be the paler straw colour of the fawn hairs, and the cooler undertones of the Silver.

[PIC]	Name:	Chinchilla
	Genotype:	A* c(ch)c OR A* c(ch)c(e) (darker)
	Standard:	The coat is to have a pearl-gray background, evenly tipped with black, and a slate blue base to the hairs. The belly and the inside of the legs is to be silver-white, the outside of the legs to match the top color. Eyes black.
	Notes:	The Black hairs are diluted to Mock-Chocolate, the Fawn hairs are diluted to white. As with Mock-Chocolate, this comes in 2 shades. The standard calls for black tipping, but in reality this isn't possible. The darkest the tips on a Chinchilla hair can be are Mock-Chocolate. The best we can do is cross to a heavily-ticked Agouti, maximising the contrast.

[PIC]	Name:	Silver Agouti
	Genotype:	A* c(ch)c(ch)
	Standard:	As for Agouti, but where golden brown would be expected substitute silver grey with a base colour of dark slate grey. The ticking is still to be black, with the belly colour to range from silver grey to dark slate grey. Eyes black.
	Notes:	Chinchillated Agouti. The Black hairs are diluted to Havana, the Fawn hairs are diluted to white. This is perhaps closer to the overseas standards of Chinchilla, from which our own standards originate. A striking, high-contrast colour.

[PIC]	Name:	Bone Agouti
	Genotype:	A* c(e)c
	Standard:	Unstandardised.
	Notes:	The Black hairs are diluted to Bone, the Fawn hairs are diluted to white. Overall phenotype similar to a regular bone, but with subtle grey-on-white ticking. As with Bone, this colour suffers from a pale nose - the colour should go right down to the whisker-bed.

[PIC]	Name:	Agouti Siamese
	Genotype:	A* c(h)c(h)
	Standard:	Unstandardised.
	Notes:	The Black hairs are Siamese, the Fawn hairs are white. Babies of this colour are an odd ruby-eyed ticked colour, a little like a pale chinchilla. After the shading comes in, adults look closer to a regular Siamese, but with mealy/grainy points.

[PIC]	Name:	Agouti Burmese
	Genotype:	A* c(ch)c(h)
	Standard:	Unstandardised.
	Notes:	The Black hairs are Burmese, the Fawn hairs are white. Phenotypically similar to Silver Agouti, but with a darker nose point and slightly lighter body colour.

[PIC]	Name:	Fawn
	Genotype:	A(y)*
	Standard:	A warm shade of deep orange, distinguished from ginger by its richness. Eyes pink or black.
	Notes:

[PIC]	Name:	Ginger
	Genotype:	A(y)* pp
	Standard:	A vivid, bright orange. Eyes pink or black.
	Notes:	Pink-eyed fawn.

[PIC]	Name:	Brindle
	Genotype:	A(vy)*
	Standard:	Brindled mice are to have tiger striping that extends from the nose to the tip of the tail, including the feet and ears, and to a lesser extent, the belly. A “W” or “M” marking on the forehead is desirable.
	Notes:

[PIC]	Name:	Sable
	Genotype:	A(y)* U*
	Standard:	Sable mice are to be a rich dark brown on the back, extending from the tip of the nose to the base of the tail, with the belly colour ia rich tan, as golden as possible. The shading is to be gradual, extending down the sides of the animal with no lines of demarcation. Eyes black.
	Notes:	Umbrous fawn.

[PIC]	Name:	Black-Eyed White
	Genotype:	A(y)* c(e)c(e)
	Standard:	A snow white, with no hint of flecking, ticking or lemon spotting. Eyes pink or black.
	Notes:	Extreme-diluted fawn. Other genotypes possible.