Harlequin colour in the Great Dane dog

✍ Scribed by N. O'Sullivan; R. Robinson

• Book ID: 104624356
• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 1988
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 249 KB
• Volume: 78
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0016-6707
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00055640

✦ Synopsis

Breeding data from Eire and Great Britain conf'mn the hypothesis of that the harlequin colour of the Great Dane breed of dog is due the combined action of a dominant gene H with the merle gene M in the genotype H + M +. The typical bluish coloration induced by M is modified to white by the action of H. The H gene is a prenatal lethal when homozygous HH and this study offers clear indication that the heterozygous H + interacts with M to reduce the viability of white merle homozygotes H + MM.