Thoughts on cinnamon and enchi being allelic?

[nikkubus]

This discussion does not seem to adress the question of whether enchi and cinnamon might be linked. Two genes are linked if the two loci are close together in the same chromosome. With over 200 mutants known but only 18 pairs of chromosomes, it seems likely that there ought to be some linkages. Ball pythons have a relatively small number of eggs, and there would have to be controls for parthenogenesis and retained sperm, so results from a few clutches may not be enough to prove anything.

As far as I know, pastel and spider mutant genes are not linked. When a pastel spider ball python is bred to a normal, 25% of the babies are expected to be normal. And 25% of the babies are expected to be both pastel and spider. If two mutant genes are closely linked, possibly as few as 1% of the babies would be normal, and 1% would be crossovers. And if we control for parthenogenesis and the normal parent is female, we'd have to delete the normal babies from consideration.

Linkage wouldn't make sense for the results people get. If linked, a Cinnamon Enchi would produce a bunch of normals and Cinnamon Enchi's and rarely any with one or the other. because they would be passing down together from the same parent. Not to mention producing a Cinnamon Enchi in the first place would be more difficult than average odds.

It's been way more than a few clutches at this point to test the theory.