Posted by:
DMong
at Sat Apr 2 11:02:07 2011 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by DMong ]
Jimmy,......
Well, that is a bit odd, but if they are from totally different hypo lines that are incompatible (non-alellic), this can easily happen. There are many different hypo genes in corns that are this way too.
Also, I definitely wouldn't rush into calling it a "T-Plus" either for the simple fact it could easily just be a more reduced form of hypomelanism....similar, but certainly not identical to "extreme" hypo Hondos, ultra-lights, etc...that display different amounts of melanin.
Trying to distinguish what is TRULY a tyrosinaise-positive animal versus a drastically reduced hypo by mere sight is virtually impossible anyway. People in the hobby simply call them this to describe a certain "look" for convenience, but as to all of these different snakes actually being "T-positive or hypo is all just pure speculation. There is WAAAY more that goes on(or doesn't go on) within pigment cells(chromatophores) than meets the eye so to speak..LOL!
Furthermore, ALL snakes that display ANY shades of dark pigment WHATSOEVER are actually "t-positive", as tyrosinaise is simply a precurser enzyme/protein within the dark pigment cells (melanophores that synthesizes chemicals within the melanocyte into actual melanin. It can be displayed in an animal anywhere from zero(t-negative), to fully dark(normal), and anywhere in between. But what hobbyists choose to call them is a very different story altogether and is not necessarily accurate at all. Many mutations in the hobby are very inaccurately termed.
The pigment cells(melanophores) in all the different strains of hypomelanistic (and T-plus) snakes can produce extremely varying amounts of tyrosinaise to produce melanin.
Technically speaking, a snake that produces absolutely ZERO melanin, yet ONLY produces the melanin protein precursor (tyrosinaise) within the pigment cells that is visually seen but is incapable of producing any melanin at ALL would be considered a true T-positive animal.
Also, nobody really knows very much about the "t-plus" nelsoni that Shannon has produced other than the fact that they are very odd looking, and the gene seems to be inherited in a much different way than most all other simple recessive colubrid traits, and it "could" be alellic somehow with the amelanism gene only, but that still has yet to be absolutely proven or not. But what gives the snake it's different looking "chocolate" appearance, nobody is really sure.
The only way to know something produces the protein/enzyme tyrosinaise, but cannot actually synthesize any of it into melanin is by performing an "L-DOPA" test for it's presence.
Anyway, yeah, that is a really reduced-melanin animal there Jimmy, but I would probably simply call it a hypo for now though..
~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing" 
my website -Serpentine Specialties
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RE: Hypo Pueblan.... - DMong, Sat Apr 2 11:02:07 2011