hamster coat colors

[RyGuyFly]

As you are probably aware mice and hamsters come in a myriad of colors. But I wonder exactly what the different alleals are doing that causes the color change.

 

For example I've been experimenting with breeding roborovski hamsters. They have developed a few mutations in captivity. Husky is a beige color, dominant spot which is some white ticking around the rump and ears, and recessive spot which agouti color fur only in patches emanating from around the spinal area. The odd thing is when you mix these colors you get unexpected results. For instance 2 dom spot and 2 rec spot allele results in an animal that is completely white. 1 dom spot and 2 rec spot alleles results in an animal that's all white with a single dark spot on its forehead.

 

So I suspected something interesting might happen if you mixed the spot genes with the husky gene. The result is in the attached picture. The darker colored animal is the normal husky. The light colored animal I *SUSPECT* is 1 dom spot and 2 husky alleles. Further matings are required to prove this. But why would a gene that usually only cause some white patches around the rump and ears cause an entire lightening of the coat when mixed with husky?

 

Or why would the different spotting combinations cause from my perspective bizarre results when combined. One would think that when combined they would just result in an animal that displays a combination of the 2 physical traits. Like normal husky coloration with white spotting around the rump and ears instead of an entire lightening of the coat?

 

Thoughts?

 

Edit: I can't seem to attach my pictures I'm not sure why.

Edited October 17, 2015 by RyGuyFly

[RyGuyFly]

I just wanted to add to this as I have found somewhat of an answer. The phenomenon that I am talking about is called a digenic epistatic interaction. I need to understand it better. But basically it is when 2 genes when combined do not have an additive effect but rather produce something totally different.