>D.H. Stands for Double Het.



And het is slang for "heterozygous". A pair of genes is heterozygous when the two genes in the pair are not the same. For example, a gene pair containing a normal gene and an albino mutant gene is heterozygous



>Double Het means, a boa that is carrying two seperate gene mutations.



In other words, there are two gene pairs, and each pair is heterozygous. Snow is the name given to the appearance of a boa that is both albino and anerythristic. DH for snow means that the snake has a gene pair containing a normal gene and an albino mutant gene and a second gene pair containing a normal gene and an anerythristic mutant gene. By the way, the normal version of the albino mutant gene and the normal version of the anerythristic mutant gene are different in chemical structure and location in the snake's chromosomes.



>Any two gene mutations.



>Hypo / Albino = D.H for Sunglow



Sunglow is a combination of albino and salmon (AKA hypo). DH for sunglow has a normal gene and an albino mutant gene in one gene pair and a normal gene and a salmon mutant gene in a second gene pair. Albino is a recessive mutant gene because a snake that is heterozygous albino does not show the effect of its albino mutant gene. Salmon is a dominant mutant gene because a snake that is heterozygous salmon shows the effect of its salmon mutant gene.



Isn't technical jargon fascinating?



Paul Hollander

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