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Probably the least common of the Border Collie colors or color patterns is the merle. Merle is a dilution of overall body color--black or red--with streaks or splotches of darker color.
The Collie (Smooth) can come in a blue merle pattern. This can be white to pale or dark grey, paired with darker patches. Smooth Collies don’t shed as much as Rough Collies but they still shed a fair bit. These pooches should be brushed once a week.
Merle Collies are genetically sable or tricolour, with the Merle modifying gene overlaid. You can read more about coat colour inheritance in the Collie here. We know that the Merle gene cannot affect pheomelanin, the red or brown pigment seen on sable Collies, therefore sable merles most often look phenotypically (to our eye) sable.
A White Collie will be genetically Sable, Sable Merle, Tricolour, or Blue Merle, with the Piebald over the top. Because of this, they often have coloured markings on their head and face, and sometimes patches on their bodies.
- Introduction
- Collie Colors
- Merle Genetics
- Merle Gene Influence on Eye Color & Ear & Eye Abnormalities
- Merle Gene Modifier – Maltese
- Merle Gene Modifier – Harlequin
- New Research on White Coat Color
Armed with new research information to read suggested to me by my friend Dr. Leigh Anne Clark, we’ll be doing double duty in this article. It will be both a refresher on what we published five years ago in the colliesonline.com (http://www.colliesonline.com/may2009/coat-of-manycolors.php) and reprinted in the Bulletin on the mapping of the merle ge...
The two base color genes in collies are brown (sable) and black (tri color). Most of us know that in our breed brown is dominant and black recessive. A puppy inherits one color gene from each parent. Therefore, if a collie inherits a dominant brown gene from each parent, he/she is a “pure for sable” (homozygous for brown). If on the other hand, a r...
Unlike the collies’ two base color genes, the merle gene is not a color gene; in fact, it produces no pigment at all. There is no color gene in collies for blue coat color only for black coat and brown coat. The merle gene turns some parts of a black coat to grey by not allowing the black color to come through completely. The merle gene has exactly...
Merles, both blue (pure for black) and sable (pure for sable or mahogany sable), have random chances at pigmentation in eye color. The same SINE/poly(A) genetic information that randomly puts merling on these collies also allows for the following: both eyes brown, both eyes blue, one eye of each color, partial blue & brown in one or both eyes and b...
Merle gene modifiers that breeders call Maltese and harlequin are now better understood and can be viewed separately from disease genes that may alter coat color and pattern for completely different reasons. Starting on page 103 of the Bulletin’s June issue you’ll find a report covering Dr. Clark and her colleagues’ mapping of the collie genome and...
The subject of harlequin coat pattern in blue merle collies and shelties has been an interest of Dr. Clark’s for several years. Harlequin is not a color gene but rather a coat pattern. She believes harlequin in some collies results from a change in the DNA within or close to the merle gene. It is not the same gene that produces harlequin coats in G...
White coat color in all dogs, including color headed white collies, is currently under investigation. Research published 4 months ago by Korberg, et al sheds new light on white coats in a number of breeds, including collies. White coat in collies and shelties according to this new study is probably caused by alleles for piebald. There are two (2) a...
Dec 28, 2018 · In 2006, Dr. Leigh Anne Clark and others identified a semi-dominant genetic mutation responsible for the merle coat color pattern commonly seen in numerous dog breeds including the Australian shepherd, collie, border collie, and dachshund.
People also ask
How does a merle gene affect a collie?
What is a merle Collie?
Are Merle Collies the same as Sable Collies?
Why does a merle Collie have a brown coat?
Jan 30, 2021 · Sable Merle: A Sable who inherits a merle gene from one of its parents is called a Sable Merle. The Sable Merle will typically have a lighter sable coat color, and faint modeling, merling, or speckling may be visible.
