G Project Leopard Geckos
Matt Baronak bred the G Project for a bold orange tail and green-tinted colour, meaning no two animals from it look quite alike. Because the name covers geckos bred for very different looks, ask which of his several G Project lines a listing traces to.
About the G Project gene
Rather than a single gene, G Project is a breeding line. Matt Baronak of SaSobek Reptiles started it in 2006. He built it from Red Stripe, Eclipse/Raptor and Jungle Giant stock to chase a greener leopard gecko. In 2007 he folded in Ron Tremper's Emerine work. The G stands for Gatorade, not green, a nod to how many flavours the line comes in. Baronak has reworked it into about six sub-lines. Each one is selected for specific patterns and colours, so a keeper buys into the line rather than a fixed look.
Appearance
The head keeps a normal leopard gecko pattern with extra orange over it. Because Baronak keeps changing what he selects for, two geckos both sold as G Project can look quite different. The belly stays plain. Body pattern varies widely: patternless stripe, striped, reverse stripe and Jungle all turn up, but a banded G Project should not occur. The tail is the most reliable identification cue. From the red stripe stock Baronak bred in at the start, a high proportion of G Project geckos carry a tail that is full or near-full carrot. The Urban Reptile, a UK stockist that has kept the line, has animals showing the same pairing of a bright orange tail and a strongly patterned body. Some of them have green patches from the Emerine influence bordering the orange.
Genetics
Because G Project is polygenic, many genes work together instead of one dominant or recessive pair. This means there is no super form and no single-copy het, and you cannot predict pairing outcomes like you can for a single-gene trait. The Pos G Project listing in the catalogue marks an animal that might carry some of the line's ancestry without showing it fully, which is not a formal het in the Mendelian sense. G Project sits outside any allelic complex. It is related to the Tangerine lines, the Rainbow Stripe, and the Emerine work of Ron Tremper, whose green pigment Baronak bred into once Emerines reached the hobby. At SaSobek in 2012, the Clown line (also called Joker) was produced by crossing G Project with the Electric Tangerine line and some Bold stripe influence in later generations.