#genetic inheritance

[gregor-samsung]

Birthmarked (Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais, 2018)

[hor-wod-flir]

A guide to Horse Genetics in Horse Reality

(and real life)

Part 2 Gene Inheritance

@calaishorsereality gave me the opportunity to ramble about horse genetics before, this one is about Gene inheritance. Funny enough I learned about gene inheritance in biology class back in middle school but nobody else has. Like even friends iny my own country are like "no, why would we??". Unlike my teacher back in the day I will not bore you with the histroy and how it was discovered.

The basic gene inhertiance that Horse Reality (HR) uses for their horse genes works the same in Humans, Animals and Plants.

Basically all genes have two Alleles for example in the Extension Gene in Horses you got E/e or e/e or E/E. Each of these letters is one Allele.

Every gene has two Alleles and every parent passes one Allele onto the kid.

Lemme give you some HR examples.

Here we have a Lippizaner Mare and Stallion, I will give you the possibilites in the kids for every gene.

I hope the colors are visible enough. So if we breed a Ee mare with an ee Stallion, we have a 50% chance for a Ee foal and a 50% chance for an ee foal. If the mare and the Stallion are both Aa, its a 50% chance for a Aa foal, 25% for AA and 25% for aa. Breeding a gg mare and a GG stallion, all kids will be gG, which gets written as Gg.

As I said, all genes work exactly like this, but in HR we have some more interesting examples like for example Creampearl that share the same gene.

Here we have a Creampearl mare breeding with a Prl Carrier and a Cream horse. Remeber you need two copies of prl or Cream and Pearl for the pearl to have any effect on the horse color. With the Pearl Carrier the foals could be Creampearl, just Cream, Double Pearl or just a Pearl Carrier. With a Cream Carrier the foals could be, Double Cream, Cream, Creampearl or just a Pearl Carrier.

The last testable gene I wanna look at is the Kit gene.

Since all of the possible KIT genes are on the same Gene there is no way you can have more than two genes at once. For this example I used Shetland Ponies since they are one of the very few breeds in HR who have more than two Kit genes. Here we have a Tobiano Sabiano mare and a Sabiano Roan stallion. The possible kids can be Tobiano Sabiano, Tobian Roan, Double Sabiano, or Sabiano Roan.

Hidden Genes

If we talk about hidden genes like Rabicano or Flaxen, they work the same. Now both Rabicano and Falxen are both recessive but the dominat hidden genes we have like wild bay and sooty interact with the base color so that would be a bit too much for this guide.

Lets look at Rabicano for a moment.

Cadmio is full Rabicano (rbrb). Lignito is a confirmed Rabicano Carrier (rb/n) Giving us 50% chance for a full rabicano, and 50% for a carrier, but because one parents is full rabicano, every kid will at least have one copy of rabicano.

Now if we look at Lignito and another carrier mare. Meaning we have a 25% chance for a full rabicano, a 50% chance for a carrier and a 25% chance for no rabicano at all. And since the genes are hidden you have no way to tell if a kid is a carrier or not rabicano at all, unless the kid goes to produce a full rabicano kid.

[science-sculpt]

Epigenetics: A Journey Through Inheritance Beyond Genes

For centuries, scientists have been fascinated by the mysteries of heredity and how traits are passed down from generation to generation. DNA, the molecule that stores our genetic code, was once thought to be the sole determinant of our characteristics. However, a new frontier in biology, revealing a captivating layer of complexity beyond the DNA sequence itself: Epigenetics.

What is Epigenetics?

The term "epigenetics" was first coined in the 1940s by British biologist Conrad Waddington, but it wasn't until the late 20th century that its significance truly blossomed. Epigenetics, literally meaning "above genetics," refers to the study of heritable changes in gene expression that occur without alterations to the DNA sequence itself. Imagine DNA as the musical score, but epigenetics are the conductor and musicians who determine how the music is played. Through chemical modifications and adjustments to the proteins around DNA, epigenetics dictates which genes are turned on or off, influencing how cells function and ultimately shaping our health, development, and even behavior. Think of your DNA as the hardware: it contains the basic instructions for building and running your body. But epigenetics acts like the software, fine-tuning those instructions and determining which genes get turned on or off at specific times and in specific cells. These modifications, like chemical tags or changes in the packaging of DNA, don't alter the underlying code itself, but they can have a profound impact on how it's read and interpreted.

The Key Players:

DNA methylation: This process involves adding a methyl group to DNA, essentially silencing the gene it's attached to. Imagine it like putting a dimmer switch on a light bulb.

Histone modifications: Histones are proteins that package DNA, and changes in their structure can make genes more or less accessible to the cellular machinery needed for expression. Think of it like adjusting the curtains around a window - open wide for full light, slightly closed for filtered light.

Non-coding RNAs: These are molecules that don't code for proteins but can regulate gene expression in various ways. They're like the backstage crew in a play, ensuring everything runs smoothly.

The Power of Epigenetic Regulation

Epigenetic regulation plays a crucial role in various biological processes, including:

Development: During embryonic development, different cell types emerge from the same DNA blueprint by activating or silencing specific gene sets through epigenetic modifications.

Cellular differentiation: Specialized cells like muscle or nerve cells have unique functions due to differences in their active genes, controlled by epigenetic mechanisms.

Learning and memory: Epigenetic changes in brain cells are thought to be essential for learning and forming memories.

Aging: As we age, our epigenome accumulates changes that can contribute to age-related decline and disease.

Environmental influences: Diet, exercise, stress, and exposure to toxins can leave epigenetic marks on our genes, potentially impacting our health and even the health of future generations.

Epigenetics reminds us that we are not simply products of our genes. Our environment, choices, and experiences leave their mark, shaping who we are and potentially influencing our children's health. This deeper understanding of ourselves opens doors for self-awareness, empowerment, and potentially reshaping our narratives – not just as individuals, but as a species with the potential to leave a healthier legacy for generations to come.

[omg-snakes]

you mentioned previously that sunglow amels are no longer a thing because of bad breeders- can you expand on this? thanks, snake noob (snoob)

Hello friend!

The shortest possible (grossly oversimplified for brevity) answer is that there are two pathways by which notable color morphs in corn snakes can occur: genetic mutation and selective breeding to enhance natural variation. Mutation is when a specific gene affects one or more specific pigments in a snake's cells. Amelanism is a really great example since it's a simple recessive gene. If the correct genetic "switches" are flipped in a snake's DNA, then the snake has no melanin and is therefore red, orange, yellow, and white with no black pigment. It's a true/false scenario.

The other color morph pathway is selective breeding, where many incomplete dominant genes are at play simultaneously, and the snakes that display the most desired traits are bred to amplify those traits. There's always natural variation among offspring, even if they have the same phenotype. Two amelanistic snakes from the same clutch might look a bit different even though both are definitely Amels.

Think of it like you have a garden full of pink flowers, and some of them are slightly, slightly more pink tinging on red. You decide to put the reddest-flowered plants together and only plant their seeds next season, and then choose the reddest-flowered offspring for the season after that, and so on until you have all red flowers!

Several popular morphs and all of the locality morphs are the result of this type of selective breeding. Unfortunately, these do require conscious and intentional breeding to maintain the look of these lines. Since they're not "on/off" genes, there are no heterozygous individuals and a selectively bred morph won't "pop up" suddenly by surprise in a clutch the way recessive gene mutations sometimes do.

Sunglow Amel is noteworthy for super bright orange coloration with low contrast, high saturation, and absent saddle borders. You can outcross a Sunglow (or any selectively-bred morph, they don't have to be inbred), but you'd need to choose snakes with bright color and minimal borders and then breed those back into the line or it'll basically undo the work of all previous selection. To go back to our garden analogy, if you took one of the red flowers you'd worked so hard to develop and pollinated them repeatedly over generations with the original pink-flowered plants, you'd get less and less red and eventually regular pink flowers.

Reverse Okeetee is another selectively-bred Amel morph, which focuses on bold, thick saddle borders and high saddle to background color contrast. Think of these like white flowers that were selectively-bred from the pink flowers in our garden.

So what happens if you breed a Sunglow Amel with low contrast and no borders (red flower) and a Reverse Okeetee with high contrast and thick borders (white flower)?

You get something in the middle: an average Amel (original normal pink flower).

A bad breeder who doesn't understand inheritance or genetics might do this exact thing and try to sell their regular Amels as "het Sunglow, het Okeetee."

I have literally seen these for sale recently.

[abybweisse]

Do you think because so Madam Red and Kelvin went crazy cause of Vincent's looks? MAYBE Vincent inherited it from Undertaker?! Yana did mention Undertaker is the most handsome character.

Madam Red met Undertaker, but she was just shocked/freaked out by him. Then again, this was back when he kept his bangs and hat brim covering much of his face. What would have happened if she’d seen Undertaker’s face?

In the manga, Grelle is also just shocked/freaked out... until Undertaker’s reveal on the Campania. There, Grelle comments that Undertaker is very handsome. Won’t stop the fight, though, in fact this seems to make Grelle even more keen to fight! 😆

The original anime version of Undertaker’s reveal as a reaper occurs in s1. It’s a severe departure from manga canon. However, when Grelle goes up to Undertaker to move his bangs aside, this happens:

Who knows, then? Perhaps Vincent (and the twins, since people keep saying how beautiful the they are, too) have inherited some (almost supernatural) aspect of their beauty from Undertaker.

It’s not like the canon inheritance pattern (daughters from fathers, sons from mothers) says you can only inherit aspects from one parent or the other. There will always be traits coming from both parents; it’s just that one parent’s traits (either physical or personality-wise) will somewhat dominate.

That’s why we can say that:

Rachel canonically got her hair color from her mother, but otherwise, she is probably a lot like her father. It’s also canon she has a “masculine” personality.

Lizzie has the same hair parting (the wild, loose locks on her right), and she’s a genius with a sword... but otherwise she’s like her father, particularly in personality. Some physical traits, too. Honestly, no one in that family is bad with a sword, though.

Edward got his looks from his mother, but he gets his personality from both of them: half cold/serious, half doting.

The twins got their hair color from their father, but Vincent says they take after their mother — that they are “cuter” than he ever was. It’s possible Vincent’s just a tad biased in favor of Rachel’s looks, since Vincent is definitely considered quite attractive.

TL/DR: You could be onto something there. Vincent might have inherited much from his mother, like his hair color and some other traits, physical and otherwise, but he might have inherited a “deeper beauty” and that joking tendency (especially the dark humor) from his father....

[autism-asks]

What's the likelihood that 3 of 4 children and their father could all be autistic. I definitely am, my dad definitely is and my brother and youngest sister show traits that indicate autism and I'm wondering if that's common.

Actually, that’s pretty common. It’s believed that autism is inherited genetically so if one person in a family is autistic, it is likely that others are as well. 

-Sabrina

[abybweisse]

Is there an active theory that Undertaker was a Phantomhive before he died? Or a forefather of some sort? (I'm aware that you are in the UT=Cedric camp) Perhaps English noble families don't go back that far?

There are still some who propose Undertaker to be Cloudia/Claudia’s father. However, that would cause a huge break in the inheritance patterns that exist in the Kuroverse, according to Yana-san... and she should know. 😆

She’s said that, typically, daughters inherit from fathers and sons inherit from mothers. For example, Madam Red comments how she ended up with their father’s red hair, and that follows the basic pattern. Rachel doesn’t actually break any rules by inheriting their mother’s blond hair, though; she only bends the rule: Yana-san says Rachel has a masculine personality. Rachel is atypical in that physical respect, but this masculine personality she’s got might be much like that of her father’s.

Similarly, the Phantomhive twins got their father’s (and apparently paternal grandmother’s) hair color; it seems to be somewhat dominant. However, Vincent specifically says the boys take after their mother (in the side story, “With Father”).

Here’s a family tree I drew and added color to highlight the inheritance patterns within the Phantomhive and Midford lines:

First, let me explain it in terms of Undertaker being Cedric.

Vincent taking after his mother would help explain why Undertaker is more concerned with Vincent’s line. Just as the twins remind Vincent of Rachel, Vincent reminds Undertaker of Cloudia/Claudia. This would also help explain why Undertaker doesn’t seem to concern himself much with Frances; not only can she fend for herself, but she also reminds Undertaker of himself (she would have inherited from him the most, out of everyone). He’s much more interested in reminders of Cloudia/Claudia.

And Yana-san has tweeted a couple things very important here: 1. Vincent and Frances are full siblings and 2. Edward looks like Frances, and Frances looks like her father. Therefore, Edward looks a lot like his maternal grandfather... and that person is definitely Cedric. There are already great posts comparing Undertaker to Frances and Undertaker to Edward. The resemblances are striking.

Now, let’s see what happens when we put Undertaker as Cloudia/Claudia’s father.

We don’t know just what she inherited from each parent, but if Undertaker is her father, than she must have now gotten her hair from her mother (assuming Undertaker never had the typical Phantomhive blue-black hair).

Then she had two children with a man who looks just like her own father. Because whoever this Cedric guy is, he still looks like Undertaker. Because Frances and Edward still got their looks from Cedric... and they look an awful lot like Undertaker.

What about Undertaker being someone higher up in the Phantomhive line?

That would change things completely, going back (again) to what Yana-san says about Frances and Edward getting their looks from Cedric. In order for them to inherit from Undertaker so strongly without him being Cedric, he couldn’t even be from the Phantomhive line; he’d have to be from the Ros— line... like Cedric’s maternal grandfather. And why on earth would someone that far removed become so obsessed with Cloudia/Claudia and the descendants who inherit from her?

The only other plausible idea I’ve been able to come up with is that Undertaker is blood related to many noble families, and perhaps he has strengthened this over time by breeding into them again and again, skipping a few generations or so. But that wouldn’t get rid of the idea he’s Cedric; it would include him being Cedric. Technically, he could be some really old ancestor of Cloudia/Claudia and still be Cedric... and someone in the Chamber line... and the Redmond line... and....

I do have several older posts on this general topic (#cedric k ros—), even a few on the idea he’s been knocking up various noble ladies over the centuries. 🤣

[abybweisse]

Hello, my favorite blogger. If Ciel turns out to be part reaper, do you think this will somehow affect the contract?

When I first read that I did a double-take and blushed! 😊Such praise!

That’s a question I’ve thought about (somewhat) for quite some time now, actually. We *all* want to know what could affect the contract… and how:

1. Does it matter what name the earl uses for himself when he makes the contract? Could this affect whether the contract is null and void? Could this cause a transfer of the contract from the earl to real Ciel, who apparently already no longer has a soul?

2. Does it matter whether Sebastian actually devoured the soul of the earl’s twin just before offering to make the contract? If he ate it, could it be affecting his thoughts, feelings, and actions? Would it make their bond stronger than it would have been with the contract alone?

3. What would constitute an accidental breach of the contract? Refusing to bring cake on some occasions that it’s ordered hasn’t broken it. Deciding to keep the earl home and tucked in bed when he’s ill, even though the earl ordered for this to not happen, hasn’t broken it. Getting information by banging a circus chick instead of by reading stored heraldry documents hasn’t broken it. Being 90% serious about eating the earl’s soul while the kid was out of his bloody mind hasn’t broken it….

4. Could something happen that causes the earl to become a demon or for his soul to otherwise become unfit for consumption?

Your question best falls under #4, but #2 comes into play here, as well. If the earl is part reaper, then so is real Ciel. If Sebastian actually ate real Ciel’s soul (instead of doing something else with it), then being part reaper doesn’t *itself* necessarily make the earl’s soul “unfit” for consumption. However, if “something weird” happens to his body and/or soul… him being part reaper could be used to explain away how he becomes demonized (or anything else that makes Sebastian deem him no longer appetizing). We also have to wonder whether real Ciel’s soul, being that of a part reaper, has affected Sebastian in some way that a regular human soul would not have done….

I have no conclusive answer for you, anon 🙁, but it’s something we can continue to ponder together 🤔😊