# Ear genetics



## AnaA (Feb 1, 2010)

Hey everyone.

Not sure if I'm posting this on the right forum, but I couldn't seem to find any that fitted what I was searching for.

Well, me and a genetics student are trying to figure out some things about rabbit ear genetics. If any of you could help with some information I'd be grateful.

So here's the thing: I know you're not supposed to breed a lop eared bunny with a bunny with upright ears, but it happens sometimes. If any of you has had any experience with something like this, would you please tell me:

- How were the ears of the new rabbits? Huge and upright? Lop? Normal sized?
- If there were different kinds of ears, how many of them had each kind of ears? And were they male or female?
- Which was the lop eared rabbit? The male or the female?

I hope some of you can answer this, it would be huge for us. (sorry about the rusty English, I hope I didn't write anything really dumb)


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## pamnock (Feb 2, 2010)

Thefactors of ear control are multifactoraland polygenic(many factors many genes). 

There are no consistent stats on breeding lop x erect. Generally, most of the ears will be erect. However, there are cases of lop earsfrom breeding erect x erect.

Warm steady temperatures and wide crowns help the ears to drop. Sex of the rabbit doesn't appear to be a major factor.



Holland Lop breeder for 20+ years.


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## AnaA (Feb 2, 2010)

pamnock wrote:


> TheÂ factors of ear control are multifactoralÂ and polygenicÂ (many factors many genes).
> 
> There are no consistent stats on breeding lop x erect. Generally, most of the ears will be erect. However, there are cases of lop earsÂ from breeding erect x erect.
> 
> ...



Hi, thanks for the quick answer. Is there anything I can read about this subject? It's hard to find any studies about this...

Can you provide me some more info on the subject please?


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## pamnock (Feb 2, 2010)

This can get you started http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantitative_trait_locus


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## AnaA (Feb 2, 2010)

pamnock wrote:


> This can get you started http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantitative_trait_locus



Thanks, but I was actually talking about rabbit ear genetics  I've had many molecular biology disciplines at college, that part is already settled :biggrin2:


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## pamnock (Feb 2, 2010)

The lopped ear trait is multifactoraland polygenic - genetic "code" unknown. There's no "lop ear gene" I was picking the brain of a genetisit who has published studies on malocclusion in humans (I was hoping to gain of better understanding of malocclusion in rabbits) and he stated that "more is unknown than known" about the inheritance of these types of polygenic traits.

The most info you're going to be able to find is:


A number ofloci are involved in the expression of the trait. 
There is no dominance or recessivity at each of these loci. 
The loci act in concert in an additive fashion, each adding or detracting a small amount from the phenotype. 
The environment interacts with the genotype to produce the final phenotype.
As well as this info that I posted previously:

There are no consistent stats on breeding lop x erect. Generally, most of the ears will be erect. However, there are cases of lop earsfrom breeding erect x erect.

Warm steady temperatures and wide crowns help the ears to drop. Sex of the rabbit doesn't appear to be a major factor.


Holland Lop breeder for 20+ years.


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## AnaA (Feb 2, 2010)

pamnock wrote:


> The lopped ear trait is multifactoralÂ and polygenic - genetic "code" unknown.Â  There's no "lop ear gene" Â I was picking the brain of a genetisit who has published studies on malocclusion in humans (I was hoping to gain of better understanding of malocclusion in rabbits) and he stated that "more is unknown than known" about the inheritance of these types of polygenic traits.
> 
> The most info you're going to be able to find is:
> 
> ...



Thank you so much for your patience and for telling me that.

There's this guy here in Portugal who is studying the evolution of rabbit breeds throughout time. The questions I posted were so I could try to help him with some questions he had about the ears. If you're interested, as soon as the study is out I'll post his findings here


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## pamnock (Feb 2, 2010)

The lop ears were produced through selective breeding rather than natural evolution.


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