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Heterochromia/Vienna gene?

Hermie+Indie

New Kit
Hi all, as I have made a previous post, I'm sure some of you would know that I have welcomed a lovely new addition to my home! However, one of the reasons I was so drawn to him (besides his charming personality) at the rescue was because of his beautiful eyes! They are brown but there is a bright blue pigment at the bottom of his iris covering up to about a third of his whole iris in his right eye, there is only a small blotch in the left. As mesmerizing as they are, I did do a bit of researching about this just out of curiosity and maybe a little concern as I had never seen this in a rabbit before. Originally I thought it was heterochromia, though I'd only heard of this in humans. Then I came across a phenomenon called the "Vienna gene". Apparently rabbits that have received this gene from both parents (I believe they are called "Vienna marked") have distinct appearances usually consisting of partially blue eyes, and white markings. Sure enough, my boy is a black rabbit with white markings on his nose and feet. And obviously the eyes too! I just wanted to get some more information here, I didn't find a lot of info online, and a lot of it was geared towards the breeding aspect of it, though I don't breed at all. I would be so grateful if someone could give me a little more information on this, anything that you know would be helpful, thanks!

Also, I will upload a picture as soon as I can, I find it difficult to post pictures of him at the moment as my phone screen is half broken and Rowan moves about a lot!
 
We have had a few rabbits like this. I love the blue eyes on a black rabbit. Sometimes the eyes are split in colour, as you have noticed. As far as I am aware, it is just an 'oddity' in the expression of the colour genes - a bit like tortoiseshell markings in female cats where the coloured markings vary in definition depending on how much white there is as well. Often the more white, the better defined the coloured areas are. Rabbits with a wider white nose stripe seem to have more completely blue eyes, from my limited experience. We have never been aware of any other eg medical issues. It does confuse the vets, though.
 
Hi all, as I have made a previous post, I'm sure some of you would know that I have welcomed a lovely new addition to my home! However, one of the reasons I was so drawn to him (besides his charming personality) at the rescue was because of his beautiful eyes! They are brown but there is a bright blue pigment at the bottom of his iris covering up to about a third of his whole iris in his right eye, there is only a small blotch in the left. As mesmerizing as they are, I did do a bit of researching about this just out of curiosity and maybe a little concern as I had never seen this in a rabbit before. Originally I thought it was heterochromia, though I'd only heard of this in humans. Then I came across a phenomenon called the "Vienna gene". Apparently rabbits that have received this gene from both parents (I believe they are called "Vienna marked") have distinct appearances usually consisting of partially blue eyes, and white markings. Sure enough, my boy is a black rabbit with white markings on his nose and feet. And obviously the eyes too! I just wanted to get some more information here, I didn't find a lot of info online, and a lot of it was geared towards the breeding aspect of it, though I don't breed at all. I would be so grateful if someone could give me a little more information on this, anything that you know would be helpful, thanks!

Also, I will upload a picture as soon as I can, I find it difficult to post pictures of him at the moment as my phone screen is half broken and Rowan moves about a lot!


Hi there :)

Shimmer has give you some good info ...

Also here:

https://www.anomalyrabbitry.com/about-rabbits/rabbit-color-genetics/blue-brown-eye-lionhead/

http://wintertimebunnies.blogspot.com/2016/01/cheat-sheet-understanding-vienna-gene.html

https://www.researchgate.net/public..._iris_in_rabbits_belonging_to_the_Dutch_breed


I look forward to the photos when you can. Rowan sounds adorable :love:
 
How interesting. Two of my rabbits have blue eyes. One blue eyed white lion head x ? (with a brown eyed brown sister) and one dutch x lionhead, marked like a dutch.

34q2uf9.jpg


245h3sl.jpg


r07erc.jpg


2603kvp.jpg
 
Yep the vienna gene tends to cause white patches and can cause blue eyes too. Some rabbits may just have a tiny patch of white. Also the vienna gene tends to cause dutch-like markings in a lot of rabbits, so quite often vienna marked rabbits will have a white paw or a little nose stripe.

How interesting. Two of my rabbits have blue eyes. One blue eyed white lion head x ? (with a brown eyed brown sister) and one dutch x lionhead, marked like a dutch.

34q2uf9.jpg


245h3sl.jpg


r07erc.jpg


2603kvp.jpg

Bunny one is blue eyed white so has two copies of the vienna gene (one from each parent). Bunny two looks to have a white patch so is a vienna carrier. Bunny three I don't think is actually a Dutch cross (although could possible be a dutch crossed with a blue eyed white/vienna lionhead). Although the dutch marking gene is completely separate to the vienna gene, one copy of the vienna gene can cause markings that are extremely similar to that of a dutch rabbit, even if there are are no Dutch breed ancestors. Also a black and white Dutch rabbit would have brown eyes, because your bunny has blue eyes I think the vienna gene is most likely to be causing those markings. Like look at this bunny, it's a purebred holland lop (what we'd call a mini lop in the UK), no Dutch in there, but it's vienna gene is causing the blue eyes and Dutch-like markings

9bf7397e42b0b27a70eeec8d75b129ab.jpg



This website explains the gene well - http://wintertimebunnies.blogspot.com/2016/01/cheat-sheet-understanding-vienna-gene.html
 
What a beautiful lop earred rabbit! Logan's (third rabbit"s) mum is dutch according to the rescue, she has brown eyes though. Think his two siblings have blue eyes.
 
We have had a few rabbits like this. I love the blue eyes on a black rabbit. Sometimes the eyes are split in colour, as you have noticed. As far as I am aware, it is just an 'oddity' in the expression of the colour genes - a bit like tortoiseshell markings in female cats where the coloured markings vary in definition depending on how much white there is as well. Often the more white, the better defined the coloured areas are. Rabbits with a wider white nose stripe seem to have more completely blue eyes, from my limited experience. We have never been aware of any other eg medical issues. It does confuse the vets, though.
Oh how lovely! I do love the colouring, it's also so interesting to know how it all revolves around genes. Such small things can make a big difference! It's good to know that there are no health problems associated, though I can just imagine the vet's are pretty confused XD Thanks for the info! xx
 

Thank you so much! You all save the day when I couldn't find much information myself. I'll definitely take a look! I will probably try to take some photos tomorrow, hopefully Rowan will stay still for two seconds so I can get a focused picture :lol: I'll keep everyone posted.
 
How interesting. Two of my rabbits have blue eyes. One blue eyed white lion head x ? (with a brown eyed brown sister) and one dutch x lionhead, marked like a dutch.

34q2uf9.jpg


245h3sl.jpg


r07erc.jpg


2603kvp.jpg

Oh they are so sweet! And it's so intriguing to see all the different variations of this gene. I think I did read somewhere that lionheads are the most common breed to find a vienna marked bun, not sure why though. I'm sure that calls for another hour-long researching session XD Thank you very much for sharing, it's nice to know another bun mum has the same curiosity about this! And not to mention some adorable rabbits! xx
 
Yep the vienna gene tends to cause white patches and can cause blue eyes too. Some rabbits may just have a tiny patch of white. Also the vienna gene tends to cause dutch-like markings in a lot of rabbits, so quite often vienna marked rabbits will have a white paw or a little nose stripe.



Bunny one is blue eyed white so has two copies of the vienna gene (one from each parent). Bunny two looks to have a white patch so is a vienna carrier. Bunny three I don't think is actually a Dutch cross (although could possible be a dutch crossed with a blue eyed white/vienna lionhead). Although the dutch marking gene is completely separate to the vienna gene, one copy of the vienna gene can cause markings that are extremely similar to that of a dutch rabbit, even if there are are no Dutch breed ancestors. Also a black and white Dutch rabbit would have brown eyes, because your bunny has blue eyes I think the vienna gene is most likely to be causing those markings. Like look at this bunny, it's a purebred holland lop (what we'd call a mini lop in the UK), no Dutch in there, but it's vienna gene is causing the blue eyes and Dutch-like markings

9bf7397e42b0b27a70eeec8d75b129ab.jpg



This website explains the gene well - http://wintertimebunnies.blogspot.com/2016/01/cheat-sheet-understanding-vienna-gene.html

Ooh this is interesting! So does this mean as Rowan only has small patches of white and blue eyes, that he is only a carrier? I did think that the gene was only physically apparent when both parents had the gene. I don't know who his parents are as I rescued him, but I assume that one parent was a vienna carrier, and one was not?
Thank you so much for the information! I'll have a look at the link in a sec xx
 
Uh oh, here come he technical problems... I've only had an account here for a couple months and I've never posted a photo! It would be great to know how to do this, I've had many tried-and-failed attempts :lol:
 
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Uh oh, here come he technical problems... I've only had an account here for a couple months and I've never posted a photo! It would be great to know how to do this, I've had many tried-and-failed attempts :lol:


These links may help you with posting photos:

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/s...tos-directly-from-facebook-or-another-website

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?136183-Tutorial-How-to-Post-Photos

https://postimages.org

Photobucket isn't working, so you may have to register with Imgur or another photo-hosting site :)
 
Ooh this is interesting! So does this mean as Rowan only has small patches of white and blue eyes, that he is only a carrier? I did think that the gene was only physically apparent when both parents had the gene. I don't know who his parents are as I rescued him, but I assume that one parent was a vienna carrier, and one was not?
Thank you so much for the information! I'll have a look at the link in a sec xx

Yep that's right. So if a rabbit is fully white with blue eyes they have two copies of the vienna gene. Two blue eyed white parents (two copies of vienna gene) would always produce blue eyed white babies. A BEW parent and a vienna carrier (one copy of vienna gene) would produce some BEW babies and some vienna carriers (about 50% BEW, 50% vienna carriers). If you breed two vienna carriers then 50% of them would be vienna carriers, 25% BEW and 25% would have no vienna gene at all.


If a rabbit has only one copy of the vienna gene then you might see blue eyes or white areas (this could be a tiny spot on the nose up to full Dutch-like markings), like with your Rowan, but with some vienna carriers they have a copy of the gene but you can't tell from the outside. They don't have vienna markings but they are still carriers of the vienna gene. He could have had one BEW parent and one non-vienna carrying parent, a BEW parent and a vienna-carrying parent, two vienna-carrying parent or one vienna-carrying parent and one non-vienna carrying parent.

Basically we can use letters to represent the genes. Capital V = vienna gene, lower case v = not vienna
VV = two copies of vienna gene, rabbit will be blue eyed white
Vv = one vienna gene, rabbit is a vienna carrier, might have some white patches or blue eyes
vv = no vienna gene at all

Mum will have two genes (which could be vienna (V) or not (v)), dad will have two, so mum and dad together have four genes but the babies only need two. This is why mum's eggs and dad's sperm only have ONE gene each, so that when an egg and sperm pair up you get a baby with two genes.

For example if you have a mum and dad that are both carriers (Vv). Half of mums eggs will have a single V vienna gene, the other half will have the non-vienna v gene. Same with dads sperm. If a V egg and a V sperm meet up, you've got yourself a BEW baby with two copies of the vienna gene (VV). If the egg is V and sperm is v (or the other way around, egg v and sperm V) then you've got a Vv vienna carrier. If the sperm and egg both have the v non-vienna gene then the baby does not carry vienna.

Because each parent has two genes but their sperm/egg only has one of those, when a sperm and egg meet there are four different combinations of that gene possible for the babies. This is why when you look at the links people have provided, the combinations are usually shown as a square like this:

BEW-003.jpg


The parents are shown on the outside, they are both vienna carriers (Vv). Remember that their sperm or egg will only have one gene, either V or v. You can see that if V and V match up you get a BEW, V and v you get a carrier and v and v you get a non-vienna carrier. This shows you four babies, one BEW, one non-carrier and than two vienna carriers. So this tells us that if you breed two vienna carrying rabbits together, half of the babies would be expected to be carriers, a quarter not carriers and the other quarter blue eyed white
 
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Thank you for the tech help! I've got the hang of it now.




^Right eye

^I didn't mention this, but Rowan does have some tiny white hairs dotted on his back, pretty sure this is associated with the gene too

^Left eye

^Looking closely you can see the small white patch

^And here is his cute little button nose




^ And some bloopers I guess XD He wouldn't stop binkying! So in the end I had to bribe him with kale :lol:
 
Wow this is amazing! So interesting to learn about this, and thank you so much for typing all that out! Really helpful for my understanding of it, awesome! xx
Yep that's right. So if a rabbit is fully white with blue eyes they have two copies of the vienna gene. Two blue eyed white parents (two copies of vienna gene) would always produce blue eyed white babies. A BEW parent and a vienna carrier (one copy of vienna gene) would produce some BEW babies and some vienna carriers (about 50% BEW, 50% vienna carriers). If you breed two vienna carriers then 50% of them would be vienna carriers, 25% BEW and 25% would have no vienna gene at all.


If a rabbit has only one copy of the vienna gene then you might see blue eyes or white areas (this could be a tiny spot on the nose up to full Dutch-like markings), like with your Rowan, but with some vienna carriers they have a copy of the gene but you can't tell from the outside. They don't have vienna markings but they are still carriers of the vienna gene. He could have had one BEW parent and one non-vienna carrying parent, a BEW parent and a vienna-carrying parent, two vienna-carrying parent or one vienna-carrying parent and one non-vienna carrying parent.

Basically we can use letters to represent the genes. Capital V = vienna gene, lower case v = not vienna
VV = two copies of vienna gene, rabbit will be blue eyed white
Vv = one vienna gene, rabbit is a vienna carrier, might have some white patches or blue eyes
vv = no vienna gene at all

Mum will have two genes (which could be vienna (V) or not (v)), dad will have two, so mum and dad together have four genes but the babies only need two. This is why mum's eggs and dad's sperm only have ONE gene each, so that when an egg and sperm pair up you get a baby with two genes.

For example if you have a mum and dad that are both carriers (Vv). Half of mums eggs will have a single V vienna gene, the other half will have the non-vienna v gene. Same with dads sperm. If a V egg and a V sperm meet up, you've got yourself a BEW baby with two copies of the vienna gene (VV). If the egg is V and sperm is v (or the other way around, egg v and sperm V) then you've got a Vv vienna carrier. If the sperm and egg both have the v non-vienna gene then the baby does not carry vienna.

Because each parent has two genes but their sperm/egg only has one of those, when a sperm and egg meet there are four different combinations of that gene possible for the babies. This is why when you look at the links people have provided, the combinations are usually shown as a square like this:

BEW-003.jpg


The parents are shown on the outside, they are both vienna carriers (Vv). Remember that their sperm or egg will only have one gene, either V or v. You can see that if V and V match up you get a BEW, V and v you get a carrier and v and v you get a non-vienna carrier. This shows you four babies, one BEW, one non-carrier and than two vienna carriers. So this tells us that if you breed two vienna carrying rabbits together, half of the babies would be expected to be carriers, a quarter not carriers and the other quarter blue eyed white
 
Thank you for the tech help! I've got the hang of it now.




^Right eye

^I didn't mention this, but Rowan does have some tiny white hairs dotted on his back, pretty sure this is associated with the gene too

^Left eye

^Looking closely you can see the small white patch

^And here is his cute little button nose




^ And some bloopers I guess XD He wouldn't stop binkying! So in the end I had to bribe him with kale :lol:

Lovely pics. Good to know he is happy, even if it did mean a few bloopers!
 
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