HGG Community Forums

Yesterday a new gene was added to the game. Dun Factor Promoter is a secondary gene that interacts with dun genes (Dun and Onyx) to modify the appearance of dun. The first allele to be added is DFP1. When homozygous, DFP1 will produce subtle brindle like markings on dun and onyx horses.

Hypothetical and Open
This gene has no required license and anyone may own and breed it. It does, however, have sharing restrictions like nexus and the open ice genes. DFP1 can not be placed on public lists but can be privately shared as you see fit.

This is not a fantasy gene as it is based on hypothetical possible real-life genetics.

Real Life Brindle Dun
In real life, some horses with the dun gene end up with brindle like markings throughout their body. It is unclear the exact cause of these markings and it may be a mix of skewed dun markings and just assorted genetic and environmental factors. They seem to be more associated with heavy primitive dun markings and have a very slight tendency towards showing in some families more than others. There is no clear mode of inheritance.

Why not Brindle1?
Brindle1 is a real gene found on the sex chromosome of horses. When a horse carries one X chromosome with Brindle 1 and one normal X chromosome, lyonization (the inactivation of one or the other X gene) causes a brindle like texture to the coat where the curled hair gene turns on and off. Our image system really is not able to handle coat texture well and our horse gender system is not currently set up to work via inherited X and Y chromosome. Brindle1 is the first known sex-linked color gene in horses so there was never a point before. It also has very limited cases where it will actually show. For all of these reasons, I decided to go after brindle dun markings and not the documented Brindle1 gene.

What about nd1?
Non-Dun 1 is not a true dun variant so it does not count towards Dun Factor Promoter genes.

This gene will be on sale until at least July 15th.