page_title: Cream gene
section_title: Heterozygous creams ("single dilutes")
hierarchical_section_title: Cream gene / Colors produced / Heterozygous creams ("single dilutes")
caption_attribution_description: Perlino Colored Horse. Double dilute horse coat and eye color
context_page_description: The cream gene is responsible for a number of horse coat colors. Horses that have the cream gene in addition to a base coat color that is chestnut will become palomino if they are heterozygous, having one copy of the cream gene, or cremello, if they are homozygous. Similarly, horses with a bay base coat and the cream gene will be buckskin or perlino. A black base coat with the cream gene becomes the not-always-recognized smoky black or a smoky cream.
  Cream horses, even those with blue eyes, are not white horses. Dilution coloring is also not related to any of the white spotting patterns.
  The cream gene is an incomplete dominant allele with a distinct dosage effect. The DNA sequence responsible for the cream colors is the cream allele, which is at a specific locus on the MATP gene. Its general effect is to lighten the coat, skin and eye colors. When one copy of the allele is present, it dilutes "red" pigment to yellow or gold, with a stronger effect on the mane and tail, but does not dilute black color to any significant degree. When two copies of the allele are present, both red and black pigments are affected; red hairs still become cream, and black hairs become reddish.
context_section_description: Horses that are heterozygous creams, that is, have only one copy of the cream gene, have a lightened hair coat. The precise cream dilute coat color produced depends on the underlying base coat color.  Unless also affected by other, unrelated genes, they maintain dark skin and brown eyes, though some heterozygous dilutes may be born with pink skin that darkens with age.  Some have slightly lighter, amber eyes.  However, the heterozygous cream dilute (CR) must not be confused with a horse carrying champagne dilution. Champagne (CH) dilutes are born with pumpkin-pink skin and blue eyes, which darken within days to amber, green or light brown, and their skin acquires a darker mottled complexion around the eyes, muzzle, and genitalia as the animal matures.  It is also possible for a heterozygous cream horse to carry more than one of the other dilution alleles.  (see "Cream mimics," below)  In such cases, they may exhibit some characteristics more typical of a homozygous dilute.
  Palomino is the best known cream-based coat color, and is produced by the action of one cream allele on a chestnut coat. It is characterized by a cream or white mane and tail and yellow or gold coat. The classic golden shade akin to that of a newly minted gold coin is common, but there are other variations:  the darkest shades are called sooty palominos, unusual but most often seen in Morgans, can include a mane and tail with darker hairs and heavy dappling in the coat. The palest varieties can be nearly white, retaining darker skin and eyes, are sometimes mistakenly confused with cremello, and are called isabellas in some places.
  Buckskin is also a well-known color, produced by the action of one cream gene on a bay coat. All red hairs in the base coat are diluted to gold. The black areas, such as the mane, tail and legs, are generally unaffected. The cream gene acting on a "blood bay" coat, the reddest shade, are pale gold with black points.  They are sometimes called buttermilk buckskins. The cream gene acting on the darkest bays, (sometimes mistaken for seal browns) may dilute to a sooty buckskin. True seal brown buckskins can be very difficult to identify owing to their almost all-black coats. It is only the reddish markings around the eyes, muzzle, elbow and groin, which are turned gold, that may give them away.
  Smoky black, a horse with a black base coat and one copy of the cream allele, is less well-known than the two golden shades.  Since a single copy of the cream gene primarily affects red pigment, with only a subtle effect on black, smoky blacks can be quite difficult to identify. Smoky blacks may have reddish guard hairs inside their ears, and experienced horse persons may detect something "off" about the coat of a smoky black, though the slightly burnished look is often chalked up to sun bleaching, which can also be seen in true blacks. The palest can be mistaken for bays or liver chestnuts, especially if exposed to the elements. Smoky black coats tend to react strongly to sun and sweat, and many smoky blacks turn a chocolate color with particularly reddish manes and tails. Bleaching due to the elements means that the legs retain their color better, and can take on an appearance of having dark points like a bay horse. Smoky blacks, however, will lack rich red tones in the coat, instead favoring chocolate and orange tones.  Because smoky blacks are often not recognized as such, breeders sometimes think that the cream gene "skipped" generations.
  While there are "color breed" registries for palomino and buckskin horses, which generally record horses based on apparent phenotype and do not require a DNA color test, it is impossible for these colors to breed "true" due to the action of a single copy of the cream allele.  Crossing two heterozygous dilutes will statistically result in offspring which are 25% the base color, 25% homozygous dilute, and 50% heterozygous dilute.
  When a horse is homozygous, meaning it has two copies of the cream allele, the strongest color dilution occurs.  
  Cremellos are homozygous cream chestnuts, and  have a cream c
caption: Perlinos may have a reddish-tinted mane
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