Syrian Hamster Color Genetics

We have established a laboratory based colony of syrian hamsters to study the biology and genetics of sex linked yellowtogether with other coat color variants and confirmed that the mutation behaves similarly to what was originally reported robinson1966 1972.

Syrian hamster color genetics. This hamster is a sable roan. In the wild syrian hamsters were basically all the same color. On our instagram page i ve started a series of genetics posts that hopefully teach syrian hamster genetics in an way that is easily understood by everyone even without a background in genetics or biology. I set up this site on in order to create a nice place where people could come learn about hamster genetics learn the correct names and gene codes for a hamsters colours and also to record genetic abnormalities in hamsters such as chimerism and mosaicism.

Syrian hamsters are excellent pets for people of all ages particularly children. Wild syrian hamsters are golden coloured and short haired. This color is called golden. The color of a syrian hamster s eyes and ears are usually determined by the color of their coat.

Roan on cream based hamster white bellied gene non cream based whwh pic courtesy of satine hamstery this gene is lethal as homozygote whwh therefore two patterned hamsters should not be mated together if you can t be sure one of them doesn t carry wh. Some coat colors have several different eye and ear color combinations such as the cream variety which can have black red or ruby eyes. Use the drop down menus on the link bar to go through the different. I hope this site will be of use to the ethical hamster breeding community.

Syrian hamsters have 22 pairs of chromosomes and some of the genes within those chromosomes determine what the hamster will look like. The posts on here will be a little more in depth but hopefully still easily understood. Mutations at a gene locus may cause something to be altered in the development of the characteristics controlled by that gene. Changing this would make the animal less well adapted to its environment.

The original wild color of the hamster is golden brown hence their name as the golden hamster the most notable characteristic of the syrian hamster is its ability to store food in two cheek pouches. If you have a syrian hamster that is blonde cinnamon lilac honey or fawn then these often have red eyes. The site isn t fully done as of yet update log. We also identify the molecular cause of recessively inherited black coat color in hamsters historically referred to as nonagouti as a cys115tyr mutation in the agouti gene.

Most mutations that are studied in hamsters affect coat colour type and pattern.