Re: Wobble in snakes produced by Spider combos?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linked_genes
http://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~mcclean/...e/linkage1.htm
;)
I mean no offense by this, and I do hope you won't take any offense as you already stated that you don't have a strong background in genetics. So, I hope you will pardon me for providing a Wikipedia link instead of any published studies, as linkage is actually a very basic and fundamental concept in genetics and therefore well-established enough that most of the studies I can find are looking at which genes are linked to which other genes, and not talking about the concept of linkage itself. So yes, linkage is definitely a "thing." ;) ;)
In veterinary medicine, one example that comes to mind is in goats. The polled (hornless) gene is a desirable gene for many goat breeders as horns can be dangerous to both the handler and fellow goats, and many goats are de-horned as babies which requires a vet visit. However, the polled gene is very tightly linked to a detrimental gene for hermaphroditism. It is so tightly linked that the two are ALWAYS inherited together -- however, they are NOT the same gene.
At the end of the day, though, you are 100% correct when you say this:
Quote:
I will point out, however, that even if this were true, the original imported spider had the wobble, so it doesn't really matter--for all intents and purposes, it would act as a single gene.
For all intents and purposes, if two genes are THAT tightly linked, they are inherited as one, so it really doesn't matter. It matters only if they are tightly linked, but not SO tightly that they couldn't one day cross over and separate in one individual, who could then be used to propagate a line of wobble-less spiders. :rolleyes:
