I'm planning a 4-H project talk on genetics. I'm particularly interested in feather and egg genetics, but any type would work, even if it only applies to one breed. Also, for any Dark Cornish breeders, I would like to know what the lethal gene in Dark Cornish is. I used to raise them and never knew they had a lethal. THanks!
I figured I'd have more answers than this. It's probably the easiest question out there, anyone would be able to answer it. I don't have to give this project talk until next year, so anyone can answer this upto September 2001, unless further notified. TIA(Thanks in advance)
Dear Birdface, It's a very broad and complicated
Cornish lethal factor was discovered by Landauer, W. 1935. A Lethal mutation in Dark Cornish Fowl. Journal of Genetics, 31:237-242.
By Birdface on Friday, March 17, 2000 - 12:18 pm:
By Dulcie (Dulciehen) on Tuesday, April 25, 2000 - 01:22 pm:
subject and therefore your question is tricky to
answer.
For a talk to a 4h club you'd probably be wise to focus
on just one area that's easy to illustrate perhaps sex
link crosses for example gold x silver
genetically 'Gold' males crossed with genetically
'silver' females producing a reverse coloured down in
the chicks females will always have buff or golden
down with or without reddish markings and males will
take the white/silvery white or pepper and salt marking
but with the prevailing colouration will always be
white.
If you want a list of examples of Gold birds and Silver
birds
By Rokimoto on Friday, September 15, 2000 - 04:34 pm:
A short description of the Cl gene can be found in Hutt, 1949. Genetics of the Fowl, page 63.
The Landauer paper sounds like an interesting paper to give your talk on. Hutt gave the allele the designation of Cl even though it is a recessive lethal and should have been designated cl (Cornish lethal). I think that he considered it to have a dominant effect on leg morphology even though the data did not support this assumption.
The creeper gene (Cp) has a dominant effect on leg length and is a recessive lethal, but crosses between carriers of Cl and Cp produced no deformed embryos. This meant that they were probably not alleles of the same gene. CpCp birds die in the shell and are deformed.