Trait overview

Merle is a coat pattern that has patches of diluted color and solid color. It is an incompletely dominant coat color caused by a variety of alleles. Merle dilutes eumelanin (black pigment). Dogs with MC1R e/e genotype do not produce black pigment; therefore, they do not display the Merle pattern but can pass it down to their offspring.

Gene name(s)

PMEL

Inheritance

Autosomal incomplete dominance

More common in the following breeds

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Citations

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30235206/