hediki said:
ok how do yo determine if a snake is co dominant or not?
There is no such thing as a codominant snake. It seems to me that "codominant" is being used here the way the boa pseudogenetics guys do. If so, then the corrected question asks how to determine whether a snake is homozygous or heterozygous for a given gene. Please note that heterozygous means that a gene pair contains two different genes and says nothing about what the heterozygous snake looks like. Too often people claim that a heterozygous snake looks normal. That is the definition of heterozygous for a recessive mutant gene. A snake that is heterozygous for a dominant mutant gene does not look normal but looks like a snake that is homozygous for that dominant mutant gene.
If a mutant gene is recessive to its normal allele, then the possible heterozygote is mated to the mutant homozygote. Example: normal looking possible heterozygous amelanistic corn snake is mated to an amelanistic corn snake. If any amelanistics are among the babies, then the possible is an actual heterozygous amelanistic.
If a mutant gene is recessive to another mutant allele, then the possible heterozygote is mated to the recessive mutant homozygote. Just as the possible heterozygous amelanistic is mated to a homozygous amelanistic, except the more dominant mutant gene takes the place of the normal allele.
If a mutant gene is dominant to its normal allele, then the possible heterozygote is mated to the normal homozygote. Example: possible heterozygous salmon boa constrictor is mated to a normal boa constrictor. If any normals appear among the babies, then the salmon is a heterozygous salmon.
If a mutant gene is dominant to another mutant gene, then testing for heterozygosity is the same as when a mutant gene is recessive to another mutant gene. The possible heterozygote is mated to an individual that is homozygous for the more recessive mutant gene.
If a mutant gene is codominant to its normal allele, then ideally you can tell the identity of the genes from the way the snake looks. To be certain, mate the possible heterozygote to the normal homozygote. Example: possible heterozygous tiger reticulated python is mated to a normal reticulated python. If any normals appear among the babies, then the tiger is a heterozygous tiger.
If a mutant gene is codominant to another mutant gene, then mate the possible heterozygote to whichever homozygote that is farthest in appearance from the suspected heterozygote. For example, if ultra and amelanistic are codominant to each other, and you want to make sure that a suspected heterozygous ultra//amelanistic is actually that, then mate it to a homozygous amelanistic. If any amelanistics appear, then the parent is indeed a heterozygous ultra//amelanistic.
There are some other variations, but these crosses will do the trick. Clear as mud? For more information, look up "test cross" in a good genetics text book.