Basic Genetics and Terms

Terms-

Genotype- The genetic makeup of an organism.
(Example- A bird could have BB as it's genotype)

Phenotype- The expressed traits of an orangism.
(Example- The bird with the B gene appears green.)

Wild type- Individuals with the normal phenotype. The budgie wild type is the normal green.

Allele-

Homozygous-

Heterozygous-

Hybrid-

Modes of inheritance-

Dominant-

Recessive allele- In a heterozygous cell, the allele that is completely masked in the phenotype.

Incomplete Dominance- A type of inheritance in which hybrids have an appearance that is intermediate between the phenotypes of the parental varieties. (between genes which are alleles of one another)

Co-Dominant-

Sex-linked- Sex-linked genes are a bit harder to understand than the above terms.
My Sex-linked Explanation

Basic Coloration-

Ground Color-

Blue series / Green series- There are two different color series of budgies, green and blue. Green budgies appear green because they produce yellow pigments on top of thier blue coloration. Blue budgies do not produce this yellow coloring, so everywhere that is yellow on a green budgie, will appear white on a blue budgie. I speak about most color mutations in terms of the blue series because all my birds are blue series birds. For Green Series just replaced "Blue" with "Green" and "White" with "Yellow".
Feather cross section

Blue melanin and Yellow pigments combine on the right to produce a Green appearing feather. With no Yellow pigments the feather appears Blue. With no Blue melanin the feather appears yellow. With neither Yellow pigment nor Blue melanin the feather appears white.

Dark Factors- A bird can have either:

NO Dark Factors
1 Dark Factor
2 Dark Factors
Dark factors make the birds body color appear one shade darker. Dark Factor genes are Incompletely Dominant over one another, which means they will combine. That is why a bird with 2 Dark Factors is a shade darker than a bird with 1 Dark Factor.
(with no other color influencing genes) A bird with no Dark Factors is the lightest. A bird with 2 Dark Factors is the darkest, leaving a bird with 1 Dark Factor somewhere in the middle.

In this right, Dark Factors create three distinguishable shades for each color series.
The Green Series consists of:

              • Light Green (NO DrkF)
              • Dark Green (1 DrkF)
              • Olive Green (2 DrkF)
The Blue Series consists of:
              • Sky Blue (NO DrkF)
              • Cobalt (1 DrkF)
              • Mauve (2 DrkF)


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Rebelangel138@michalegraves.every1.net