How does piebaldism work in ball pythons?

[silvermander]

I'm trying to do a deep dive into how the pied morph works ball pythons, and how it works in them compared to how it works in mammals.

At this point I'm running into more questions than answers, and the answers might not be known yet, but I thought this might be a good place to ask. I'm looking for scientific research into how the pied morph works in the body. The majority of (not all) pie ball pythons (without other morphs that would specifically change it) have a patterned head and the tip of the tail is white. As I said, not always, but a majority. Then there's the fact that the majority of (not all) them show more patterning in the first 2/3 of their body.

I'm struggling to find any solid information on this. I know there are a number of people doing genetics work on ball pythons, but my searching skills are not the best online. I'm more of a builder than researcher.

Thanks for any possible help, I greatly appreciate it.

[Malum Argenteum]

In Silico Analysis of Gene Expression Network Components Underlying Pigmentation Phenotypes in the Python Identified Evolutionarily Conserved Clusters of Transcription Factor Binding Sites (This one looks pretty good)

A nonsense mutation in TFEC is the likely cause of the recessive piebald phenotype in ball pythons (Python regius)