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Phaeomelpigfin

As we have already seen in the eumelpigfin section, the final hair color of an animal depends on a variety of different genes that affect the chemical structure of the phaeomelanin, as well as the size, number and morphology of the pigment granules.

A good example of these effects can be seen in two dilution genes in the horse: dun and cream (or cremello). Dun (D) is a dominantly inherited trait that is thought to dilute eumelanin to mouse-gray and phaeomelanin to pale red by causing the pigment granules to clump in the hair. Cream (Ccr), on the other hand, is a codominant allele that appears to lighten the phaeomelanin pigment by changing its chemical structure.