# The Vienna gene?



## LadyIsabelle2011 (Jul 29, 2012)

Hey guys,

I'm in the experimenting stage of rabbits. At the moment I have four rabbits: A super friendly black new Zealand/dutch mix buck with a white nose stripe, feet, and incomplete collar. (I have read that this is caused by the Vienna gene), a sooty fawn Flemish Giant mix doe, a black broken new Zealand mix doe with very soft fur (I feel like I'm petting a little cloud  reminds me of a smooth coated Himalayan cat I once had ), and a mature chinchilla doe (who is also very soft  but a little over weight...will probably not be used for breeding but I thought I would mention her  ). 

I plan on breeding these rabbits a some point (though I intend to get a better quality buck to breed to my broken doe very soon) but this is what I am starting with. (these rabbits will be dual purpose meat and pet since there seems to be a good market going here and my family loves rabbits and their meat anyway).

Any who, since I was starting out with a vienna marked buck I thought I would learn more about this gene and how it would affect other coat and marking genes. At the moment I am most curious about how it will affect my broken marked doe. I am not entirely focused on color at the moment though a briefing on it would be wonderful  I would also be interested in what genetics affect coat texture as I am curious as to how two new zealand crosses have such differing coat texture (her's is dreamy soft and his is just...well rabbit fur  )

Anyway, in short, how does Vienna affect Enen (broken)? And what genes affect coat texture? 

THank you!!!


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## Bunnylady (Jul 30, 2012)

Are you absolutely, positively, 100% sure that this is Vienna and _not_ Dutch? You said he's a New Zealand/Dutch mix.

The gene causing the distinctive pattern on the Dutch breed of rabbits is the Dutch gene. There are apparently many variations of the Dutch gene, with many degrees of expression, from the full Dutch pattern to as little as a tiny snip or line on the face, or a couple of white toes. Such markings on otherwise solid-colored rabbits are a disqualification in most breeds (other than the honest to goodness Dutch, of course), so as cute as they may be, they are frustrating to the breeder who has showing in mind. 

The Vienna gene, on the other hand, causes the color called Blue-eyed White. It has what is called partial penetration, meaning that it gets expressed even when heterozygous (meaning that there is one Vienna gene, and one non-BEW gene present). Curiously, the pattern of white that shows up on the heterozygote usually looks like a poorly marked Dutch, something we used to call pseudo-Dutch markings (but what are now usually called Vienna marked). The homozygote always has blue eyes and a white coat, while the heterozygote may or may not have blue eyes, or may even have one of each. Rarely, you can get a heterozygote that shows no white at all.

Vienna-marked rabbits frequently have blazes that are asymmetric, but that isn't always the case. Sometimes, you can't really tell the difference, just looking. One big difference, of course, is that you can breed rabbits with markings caused by the Dutch gene together until the cows come home, and you will never, ever get a Blue-eyed White rabbit in a litter!

If this is Dutch, there really shouldn't be a noticeable interaction with the Broken patterning, other than the fact that rabbits that have both might have more white on them - but the amount of white can vary greatly even in brokens without Dutch. As for texture, that is variable, as you have noticed. Each breed has a particular texture that is preferred, a coat that is too soft or too "hard" is considered a fault. They even have words like "flyback" and "rollback" to describe how a coat is expected to behave.


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## therealsilkiechick (Aug 1, 2012)

The gene responsible for creating the blue eyed white is called the Vienna gene and is expressed in genetic code as vv. This gene is believed to be neither dominant nor recessive, as it lies hidden in certain cases.  When you breed a BEW to a BEW, statistically speaking, you'll get 100% BEW.  However there are exceptions:

(1)  When Himalayan or REW lies hidden, you can get phenotype REW. 

(2)  If shaded, chocolate, or lilac lies behind the BEW you can get BEWs with a ruby cast pupil, and these offspring are not showable. You can, therefore, breed almost any color into your BEWs to improve type, with the exception of your shaded colors, chocolate, and lilac. These colors, and rabbits with these colors in the back ground, should be avoided to prevent the ruby cast pupil.  It has often been a misconception that breeding a REW to a BEW would cause a ruby cast.  This is not the case. A REW will not cause a ruby cast to a BEWs eye as long as the REW is not hiding shaded, chocolate or lilac. REWs can be an excellent color to use to cross into your BEWs, but you must know what is behind them.

  When you breed any color beside BEW to BEW, you will get what are known as Vienna Marked (VM's) or Vienna Carriers (VC). A VM or VC is expressed in genetic code as Vv.   A Vienna Marked and a Vienna Carrier are genetically the same. They both carry only one Vienna gene. The distinction is that a VM is a rabbit that you can look at and clearly see he carries the gene because he will have white marks on him, and/or blue, or partially blue eyes.  On the other hand, a VC will have no outward marks.  There will be a problem if you breed  a VC/VM to a VC/VM cross. This crossing will result in some "normal" offspring, "Normal" refers to a non-Vienna carrying rabbit. There is no way to know which ones could be VC's that didn't get a white marking, and which ones are just plain normal without the Vienna gene. Any offspring from a cross like this should always remain in a BEW program or be sold as pets only.  Breeding one of these animals back into other colors is a big no-no. They will cause major problems for years in the lines with white spots and white nails. BEW is like a one-way street almost anything can come in, but nothing can go out. Should you sell a VC, VM, or possible VC to someone it is important to record on the pedigree that the animal has, or could possibly have the Vienna gene. It is also your responsibility as an ethical breeder to explain what this means to the person buying it.

Below is a chart that shows what you can statistically expect when breeding BEWs.  

                    BEW X BEW = 100% BEW (or REW masking BEW - This is still genetically a BEW)

                    BEW X "Normal" = 100% Vienna carriers, 0% BEW

                    Vienna Carrier X Vienna Carrier = 25% BEW, 50% Vienna carriers, 25% "Normal"

                    Vienna Carrier X BEW = 50% BEW, 50% Vienna carriers

                    Vienna Carriers X "Normal" = 25% Vienna Carriers, 75% "Normal", 0% BEW


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## LadyIsabelle2011 (Aug 3, 2012)

Bunnylady said:
			
		

> *Are you absolutely, positively, 100% sure that this is Vienna and not Dutch? You said he's a New Zealand/Dutch mix.
> 
> The gene causing the distinctive pattern on the Dutch breed of rabbits is the Dutch gene*. There are apparently many variations of the Dutch gene, with many degrees of expression, from the full Dutch pattern to as little as a tiny snip or line on the face, or a couple of white toes. Such markings on otherwise solid-colored rabbits are a disqualification in most breeds (other than the honest to goodness Dutch, of course), so as cute as they may be, they are frustrating to the breeder who has showing in mind.
> 
> ...


Thank you sooo much for your reply! I'm pretty sure that he is a dutch marked then and not vienna, and considering how tricky the gene sounds I think I'm a little thankful for that.  So as far as breeding I should expect the normal Solid x broken interaction only with a possible lack of markings around the neck, chest, nose area...right?


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