Do females genetics generally dominate males genetics? or does it just depend on if your snake has a recessive or dominant gene?....does sex really matter?
I've never heard of sex making a difference in genetics. A particular trait is either dominant or recessive...or more complicated than I know. LOL
Sex makes it a difference if the genes that contribute to the trait are found on a sex chromosome. We call such traits sex-linked traits. There are a lot these in mammals such as ourselves. Color Blindness is an example of a sex-linked trait.
There are no known (or publicly known) sex-linked traits in ball pythons.
Interestingly if a sex-linked recessive trait did exist in ball pythons then you'd see it pop up more in females because they are the heterogametic sex in reptiles/birds (the opposite occurs in mammals with the XX/XY system.)
From the scientific papers I've read the reason why there might be few, if any, sex linked traits is that in the primitive boids (group of snakes including pythons/boas) the Z and W chromosomes dont differ that much in size (and/or composition?)
Reptiles are probably one of the least studied taxa of vetebrates by the mainstream scientific community. There is some research involving or looking at reptiles but not that much. Some lab scientists use them in model organisms to study the physiological regulation of apetite. (Jared Diamond of Guns, germ, and Steel fame is involved in this). There's talk at using them in aging research. Ecologists and Evolutionary Biologists have even traditionally ignored them...though to a lesser degree.
Howver, Heptocultural Hobbyists (amateur scientists) have found a lot though.
If this project got off the ground we'd know more genetically speaking about reptiles as a whole....http://www.reptilegenome.com/.
Last edited by Mendel's Balls; 08-23-2006 at 01:48 AM.
~ 1.0.0 Python regius ~ Wild-type ~
~ 1.0.0 Canisfamiliaris ~ Blue Italian Greyhound ~
~ 0.0.9 Danio rerio~ Wild-type and Glofish
From the scientific papers I've read the reason why there might not be few, if any, sex linked traits is that in the primitive boids (group of snakes including pythons/boas) the Z and W chromosomes dont differ that much in size (and/or composition?)
However, I'm skeptical of this explanation...the paper was a review--> I havent been able to find anything so far in the primary literature about chromosome numbers in ball pythons. Has anyone ever actually done a karyotype on a bp or any boid for that matter?
Karyotypes if you remember form high school bio (and I hope you do) are pictures of the set of chromosome an organism has.
Boids in particular seem to be a negelcted part of the literature. Take any explanation of why there are few sex-linked traits in bps with a grain of salt. Altough the explanation above provides a good answer for why, I think there is very little data to support it.
Last edited by Mendel's Balls; 08-23-2006 at 01:43 AM.
~ 1.0.0 Python regius ~ Wild-type ~
~ 1.0.0 Canisfamiliaris ~ Blue Italian Greyhound ~
~ 0.0.9 Danio rerio~ Wild-type and Glofish
Hehe...I should have been more precise in my response. I am aware (in a vague, uneducated way) of sex-linked genetics in humans. But I have never heard of any relating to snakes. And most certainly not with regard to the basic genetics that we hobbyists are exposed to and discuss on a daily basis. I'm quite sure that even with "primitive" animals like snakes, the complete story of their genetic make-up is far deeper and more complex than we can imagine. But for now...for me personally...I'm content to understand how to breed a snake with bright white patches, or lovely yellow & white, or beautiful caramel coloring...etc...
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Originally Posted by JLC
