Posted by:
Bolitochrome
at Thu May 6 21:23:36 2010 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by Bolitochrome ]
No, the 50% chance of Albino or Het does not come from the number of hets or albinos in a clutch. Those percentages are derived statistically from a punnet square. An Albino parent (aa) bred to a Heterozygous parent (Aa) produces a punnet square that looks like this:
a a
A Aa Aa
a aa aa
Therefore, the gametes sort so that each egg has a 50% chance of receiving the "aa" combination (Albino) and 50% chance of receiving the "Aa" combination (Heterozygous). Whether you get all Albinos or all Hets is simply luck of the draw. Even breeding two Hets together could produce all Albinos, if you are really lucky. It has very little to do with the per egg gamete sorting.
To put this into perspective: My brother in law has four daughters. This doesn't mean that he has special gametes. Each pregnancy (IE, each "egg" has a 50% chance of being male and 50% chance of being female. His luck was to produce 4 females. According to the statistical method you propose, he should have produced 2 males and 2 females, but the percentages are actually based on a "per pregnancy" basis. What you are describing is closely related to the "gambler's fallacy" in statistics.
-----
Lincoln, NE
0.1 Pastel, 1.0 Pastel het Pied, 0.1 Pied, 0.1 Cinn, 1.0 Black Pewter, 1.0 Woma (hidden gene?), 0.1 Yellowbelly
2.0 Normals, 1.0 Thayeri, 0.1 Thayeri X Alterna, 0.1 crazy cat, 1.0 husband
[ Hide Replies ]
|
Punnett squares. - Bolitochrome, Thu May 6 21:23:36 2010