ღ Equine Coat Colour Genes List ღ

[Sezzas]

Here I will put down a list of horse coats and what genes they have. I thought that'd be helpful c:




Index:
• List of genes
• List of Coat Colours
• Base Coats
• Patterns & Others
• FAQ


Helpful links:
• Guide to Horse Colors & Patterns
• Animal Genetics Homepage
• Coat Colour Calculator
• The Appaloosa Project


If you see I have missed something important,
or if you have any questions,
don't be afraid to shoot me a PM or post here!

[Sezzas]

List of genes
The genes are listed in order of dominance.
This means, the first type is most dominant,
and the last is recessive/least dominant.

Extension - E_/ee
Agouti - A+_/A_/At_/aa
Gray - G_/gg
**Cream/Pearl - Cr_/prl_/crcr
Dun - D_/dd
Champagne - Ch_/chch
***Flaxen - F_/ff
Silver - Z_/zz
Sooty - STY_/stysty
Rabicano - Rb_/rbrb
Roan - R_/rr
Sabino - Sb_/sbsb
Dominant White - W_/ww
Tobiano - T_/tt
Frame Overo - O_/oo
Splashed White - Spl_/splspl
Leopard complex - Lp_/lplp
PATN1 - PATN1_/patn1patn1 (appaloosa gene, expresses leopard or fewspot appaloosa)

** Cream and Pearl are found on the same locus which means a horse cannot have two copies of cream AND pearl. Pearl is only expressed if homozygous or paired with a dominant Cream gene.

*** Flaxen is thought to be expressed when the horse carries two copies of the recessive gene.
Which means ff = Flaxen, while F_ = not flaxen.

[Sezzas]

List of coat colours

To the left you'll find different base coats and what genes they have.
To the right you'll find different coat names and which coat they usually refer to.
If you want to find out their genes, just look which coat they mean, and then find that coat in the left list.

For example:
I want to find the genes for "Zebra Dun".
It does not exist in the left list.
I look in the right list and find it. It says it means "Bay Dun".
I look for "Bay Dun" in the left list and see the genes are E_/A_/D_.

Base coats

Amber Champagne - E_/A_/Ch_
Amber Cream Champagne - E_/A_/Cr_/Ch_
Amber Pearl E_/A_/Ch_/prlprl
Bay - E_/A_
Bay Dun - E_/A_/D_
Black - E_/aa
Blond Sorrel - ee/ff
Blue Taffy - E_/At_/Z_
Buckskin - E_/A_/Crcr
Chestnut - ee
Chocolate Palomino ee/Crcr/STY_
Classic Champagne - E_/aa/Ch_
Classic Cream Champagne - E_/aa/Cr_/Ch_
Classic Pearl - E_/prlprl
Cremello - ee/CrCr
Cremello Dun - ee/CrCr/D_
Dunalino - ee/Crcr/D_
Dunskin - E_/A_/Crcr/D_
Gold Champagne - ee/Ch_
Gold Cream Champagne - ee/Cr_/Ch_
Golden Pearl - ee/prlprl
Gray - Can be any base coat underneath, G_
Grullo - E_/D_
Ivory Champagne - ee/CrCr/Ch_
Ivory Pearl - ee/Crprl/Ch_
Lilac Dun - E_/At_/D_/Ch_
Liver Chestnut - Dark shade of chestnut,
thought to possibly be sooty chestnut (ee/STY_)
Palomino - ee/Crcr
Perlino - E_/A_/CrCr
Red Dun - ee/D_
Sable Champagne - E_/At_/Ch_
Sable Cream Champagne - E_/At_/Cr_/Ch_
Sable Dun - E_/At_/D_/Ch_
Sable Pearl - E_/At_/prlprl
Seal Brown - E_/At_
Silver Dapple Black - E_/Z_
Smokey Black - E_/Crcr
Smokey Cream - E_/CrCr
Smokey Grullo - E_/Crcr/D_
White Dun - E_/A_/CrCr/D_
Wild Bay - E_/A+_
Wolf Dun - E_/At_/D_

Different coat names

Apricot Dun = Red Dun
Beige Dun = Bay Dun
Black Dun = Grullo
Blood Bay = Dark shade of Bay, possibly Sooty Bay
Brown = Seal Brown
Buttermilk Buckskin = Buckskin
Claybank Dun = Red Dun
Coyote Dun = Bay Dun
Cream = Cremello
Cream Dun = Cremello Dun
Dappled Gray = Variation of "Gray"
Dove Dun = Sooty Grullo
Dove Grulla = Sooty Grullo
Fleabitten Gray = Variation of "Gray"
Grulla = Grullo
Mouse Dun = Grullo
Mulberry Gray = Bay w/ Gray
Rose Gray = Chestnut w/ Gray OR Bay w/ Gray
Seal Bay = Seal Brown
Taffy = Silver Black
Zebra Dun = Bay Dun

[Sezzas]

Patterns

Dominant White - W_
Fewspot Appaloosa - LpLp/PATN1_
Frame Overo - Oo
Frosted Appaloosa - Usually minimal spotted blanket or snowcap
Leopard Appaloosa - Lplp/PATN1_
Manchado - Not known
Near Leopard Appaloosa - Leopard in progress, see Leopard Appaloosa
Pintaloosa - Can be any mix of appaloosa and paint genes
Rabicano - Rb_
Roan - R_
Sabino - Sbsb
Sabino-White - SbSb
Semi-Leopard Appaloosa - Leopard in progress, see Leopard Appaloosa
Snowcap Appaloosa - LpLp
Splash - Spl_
Spotted Blanket Appaloosa - Lplp
Tobiano - T_
Tovero - T_/Oo
Varnish Roan Appaloosa - Lp_



Others

+Flaxen - ff
+Gray - G_
+Silver - Z_
+Sooty - STY_

[Sezzas]

Why is PATN2 not on the list? Isn't that the gene that causes blanket and snowcap appaloosa?
For a while PATN2 was said to be the gene to cause that, yes. However, this theory turned out to be incorrect and is now just a myth. Instead it is believed that blanket appaloosa and snowcap appaloosa are caused by several different unknown genes that affect how big their blankets are etc. What we do know, however, is that snowcap appaloosa, just like fewspot appaloosa, is homozygous for Leopard Complex (LpLp).

If you want to learn more about Appaloosa-genes, check out "The Appaloosa Project"!
They're constantly researching about the genes, such as Lp and PATN1 and other modifiers.

Here's an article by The Appaloosa Project that explains the Appaloosa genes and there's a paragraph further down that explains the whole "PATN2"-thing.

If you don't feel like looking it up, I will copy that paragraph and post below:



I've read that the blanket pattern is caused by PATN2, is this true?

This question ties in nicely to the question above about why a blanketed stallion isn't consistently reproducing his own pattern, so it's worth repeating the key point: only PATN1, which has a very large effect on the amount of white patterning on horses that inherit it, acts to produce a "big chunk" of patterning, usually affecting between 60 and 100% of the body.

So, it's time to debunk the PATN2 myth… PATN2 is not the 'blanket gene'.

Instead, pedigree evidence supports that blanket patterns are instead caused by multiple small effect modifiers that each additively contribute 10% to the size of the blanket. The most likely explanation is the larger the blanket, the more of these modifiers the horse has inherited.

A future Appaloosa Project article will cover how to breed for blankets in detail. Can't wait? Subscribe to our electronic classroom or request a private, detailed analysis of your breeding program for a detailed guide to your best color-producing crosses!




I know there's a lot of different genes for Sabino, Splash, Dominant White etc.
Why are you not listing those?
That is correct. For Splashed White there's thought to be SW-1 and the rare SW-2 & SW-3. With Dominant White we have found several different genes, some of them being W3, W5, W10, W13 & W20. The reason these are not mentioned in this list is because even though there's quite a lot of research on those genes, it's not enough to be sure what each one of them causes. They're also not very different and express a similar pattern, so as long as we don't know for sure what each variation does it's easier to just use a "general" gene for each pattern, which is Sb, Spl and W.

[ᴇǫᴜɪɴᴇ]

[Marking! I have been hoping for this type of thread for ages!]

[iStarz & Everly]

You don't have any black dun or grulla on your chart.

[Sezzas]

You don't have any black dun or grulla on your chart.

Ah, thank you! Adding right away c:

[iStarz & Everly]

Doesn't Smokey Black or Smokey Grullo have a different genotype as well? Or is it the same as Sooty? I don't see it anywhere.

Sorry to bother.

[Hime]

Doesn't Smokey Black or Smokey Grullo have a different genotype as well? Or is it the same as Sooty? I don't see it anywhere.

Sorry to bother.

Those two are different colors(black+cream and black+dun+cream) and the list is missing them both indeed.
List is also missing silver bay entairly and all it's variations, plus all silver black variations and smokey cream. It might be easier to keep track of the colors if you'd list them by the base color(black, bay, chestnut). That way it's easier to see if one is missing, as dilution colors basically just layer on the base color.
Also sooty colors rarely get called by specific name, most of the time they are just labeled as sooty *insert color here*.