Betta Marble Gene Color Change

These transposons are what make marble bettas notorious color changers.

Betta marble gene color change.

Some betta fish have what is known a marble coloration to them. A result of the gene switching pigment on or off. Most new betta owners have never heard the word marbling to describe a betta in their lives since they probably didn t poke around that much in betta genetics just how to take care of them. Insert itself into another gene and change its function.

A transposon cannot transform into a normal gene so there are no marbles that are guaranteed to hold their color pattern throughout their lives. As the gene jumps between chromosomes it may alter the skin pigmentation of betta fish which can happen several times during their lifetime. A royal blue betta is blue because it has the blue gene. Because the marble gene is a transposon its color is unstable and often marble bettas will develop more or less color throughout their entire lives.

Transposons have the ability to do two important things that affect a betta s color. The coloration occurs when pigment cells are given certain pigments usually through biochemical reactions that produce that color and can change them depending on proteins that come with them. Marble betta fish as they re called in the industry have a type of jumping gene that can cause a natural change in the color of the fish. This a condition of a mutation called as jumping gene.

Genes are responsible for a variety of things. These marbled bettas have a really interesting gene mutation known as the jumping gene. This gene is able to move the fish s chromosomes which will always have different kind of colors. Sometimes changing betta colors many different times throughout their life.

The marble gene influences the solid color in unpredictable ways making new color and pattern combinations possible. With bettas we study genes to understand and modify through breeding particular traits like color pattern and fin style. Betta fish color is more or less the result of biochromes which are true pigments that absorb one or more parts of white light. If the solid colored parent betta carries the marble gene the percentage of marbled fry increases.