Snowdrop

Different gene variants in the SLC45A2 gene are responsible for various color lightening such as Cream, Pearl or Sunshine. In 2020, a gene variant that caused the brightening could be detected in a brightened Tinker that did not bear any of the known causal gene variants for Cream, Pearl or Sunshine.
This fur color dilution is called snowdrop and dilutes both red and black pigment, so that the basic colors chestnut, bay and black are brightened by this gene variant.
The inheritance is autosomal recessive, i.e. only if both alleles of the animal have the variant for snowdrop, it comes to the fur color dilution. The presence of the gene variant in other breeds is currently not scientifically described, but cannot be excluded.