Mojave is the heterozygous version of what appears to be a single gene mutation (i.e. not a combination of mutations of different genes). For the gene pair at the location of the mojave mutation a mojave got a copy from one of it's parents with the mojave mutation and a normal copy from the other parent. If both parents give the mojave mutant version (requires that both have it to give) then you end up with a homozygous mojave which is a mostly white snake with a little color to the head.



Lesser seems to be a similar mutation except that both the heterozygous and homozygous lessers are generally lighter in color. Given the similar behavior but consistently different appearance and that lesser X mojave has produced white snakes it seems likely that lesser and mojave are different mutations of the same gene. Phantom, butter, and Vin Russo high yellow lemon also appear to be different versions of this same gene.



It's less certain how platinum works but it appears to be the combination of lesser and one additional mutant gene version that doesn't appear to have an effect by it's self. I like to call this additional gene "dilute" since it reminds me of a rat gene I once read about that diluted other mutant phenotypes to a lighter color but didn't effect the otherwise non mutant animals. I also think the dilute gene that turns a lesser into a platinum might be yet another version of the same gene location as mojave and lesser.



This would be significant because an animal normally only has two copies of the same gene (one from each parent) so a lesser or a white snake could not carry the dilute gene. The lesser phenotype would require one lesser and one normal version of the common gene (if it had the dilute rather than the normal it would already be a platinum) and white snake would already be homozygous for the more extreme versions of the gene like lesser or mojave.

[ Show Entire Thread ]