T+ Albino

[martin-bernstein]

I've said that. Here is my logic.

An albino may or may not have melanin. If it has melanin, then there is less melanin than in a normal snake.
Ultra corn snakes have melanin, though less than a normal snake.
Therefore, an ultra corn is a an albino.
Functional tyrosinase is required to make melanin.
Ultra corn snakes have melanin, though less than a normal snake.
Therefore, ultra corn snakes have functional tyrosinase.
A T-neg albino snake has neither functional tyrosinase nor melanin.
A T+ albino snake has functional tyrosinase. It either lacks melanin or has a less than normal amount of melanin.
Therefore ultra corns are T+ albinos.

Normal tyrosinase is the tyrosinase most commonly found in wild snakes. Functional tyrosinase is any tyrosinase version that can produce melanin. Functional tyrosinase includes but is not limited to normal tyrosinase. Ultra corns have functional but abnormal tyrosinase.

The T+ vs T- dichotomy is too simple. In reality, there are multiple unrelated causes for the conditions we lump together as T+ albinos. In part, the above logic is designed to throw the widest possible net for T+ albinos and demonstrate the flaws in the system.

This is interesting stuff. I'd just like to clarify, T+ is not synonymous with Ultra. Ultra is T+, but so are hypos and other morphs with reduced melanin. Correct?

 

[chris68]

from Wikipedia

Albinism was formerly categorized as tyrosinase-positive or -negative. In cases of tyrosinase-positive albinism, the enzyme tyrosinase is present. The melanocytes (pigment cells) are unable to produce melanin for any one of a variety of reasons that do not directly involve the tyrosinase enzyme. In tyrosinase-negative cases, either the tyrosinase enzyme is not produced or a nonfunctional version is produced. This classification has been rendered obsolete by recent research.

 

[paulh]

This is interesting stuff. I'd just like to clarify, T+ is not synonymous with Ultra. Ultra is T+, but so are hypos and other morphs with reduced melanin. Correct?

Correct. Ultra is T+, but so are hypos and other morphs with reduced melanin.

An amelanistic corn snake has neither functional tyrosinase nor melanin. Bechtel tested amelanistic corns for functional tyrosinase, which it lacked. It is the one and only T- albino in corn snakes.

As Chris68's quote from Wikipedia says, the T+ vs. T- classification is obsolete.

 

[TandJ]

I've bought this cornsnake as a "Albinos T+" but t was the firt time I see this term t+ for cornsnake :nope:

Nice normal...