Elaborate color patterns of individual chicken feathers may be formed by the agouti signaling protein

Yoshihara, Chihiro; Fukao, Ayaka; Ando, Keita; Tashiro, Yuichi; Taniuchi, Shusuke; Takahashi, Sumio; Tanaka, Sakae

doi:10.1016/j.ygcen.2011.12.009

Cited by 36 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Agouti signaling protein (ASIP), an antagonist of α–MSH (15, 16), is an important mammalian pigment modifier capable of switching eumelanogenesis to pheomelanogenesis and regulating melanocyte precursor behavior in hair follicles (17–20). Its role in feather pigmentation has been proposed but not well-defined (21). We searched for sources of pigment modulators by quantitative PCR and whole-mount in situ hybridization, and found ASIP was consistently up-regulated in peripheral pulp adjacent to apigmented barbs (Fig.…”

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confidence: 99%

Topology of Feather Melanocyte Progenitor Niche Allows Complex Pigment Patterns to Emerge

Lin

Foley

Jiang

et al. 2013

Science

125

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Color patterns of bird plumage affect animal behavior and speciation. Diverse patterns are present in different species and within the individual. Here we study the cellular and molecular basis of feather pigment pattern formation. Melanocyte progenitors are distributed as a horizontal ring in the proximal follicle, sending melanocytes vertically up into the epithelial cylinder which gradually emerges as feathers grow. Different pigment patterns form by modulating the presence, arrangement, or differentiation of melanocytes. A layer of peripheral pulp further regulates pigmentation via patterned agouti expression. Lifetime feather cyclic regeneration resets pigment patterns for physiological needs. Thus the evolution of stem cell niche topology allows complex pigment patterning via combinatorial co-option of simple regulatory mechanisms.

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confidence: 99%

Topology of Feather Melanocyte Progenitor Niche Allows Complex Pigment Patterns to Emerge

Lin

Foley

Jiang

et al. 2013

Science

125

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“…Avian oogenesis is characterized by the accumulation of a large amount of maternal RNA (Olszanska and Stepinska, 2008), some of which may be involved in the signaling pathways of melanogenesis (Kerje et al, 2004;Yoshihara et al, 2012) as regulatory elements. These regulatory elements could be exchanged between donor and recipient oocytes and be unevenly distributed in the early embryonic cells after fertilization and cleavage to modify the melanogenic pathways of the cells in which they reside through epigenetic regulatory mechanisms (Rassoulzadegan et al, 2006).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chimeric plumage coloration produced by ovarian transplantation in chickens

et al. 2013

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Ovaries from Rhode Island Red donors were transplanted orthotopically into White Leghorn recipients. At maturation, recipients were mated with Rhode Island Red roosters to test the origin of their ovaries, using plumage coloration as a marker. A chick with chimeric plumage coloration was produced, indicating mechanisms that produce follicles with both donor and recipient ovarian contents. This study suggests that ovarian transplantation could be useful for in vivo studies of cytological and molecular mechanisms involved in avian folliculogenesis.

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“…Mutations at this locus in quail affect coloration and bar width in individual feathers ([33]; N.I. Mundy and F. Minvielle unpublished data), and ASIP expression in developing chicken feathers is spatially variable [34]. Thus the evolutionary origin of bars may be more straightforward than inferred from the reaction diffusion model.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolutionary pathways to convergence in plumage patterns

Gluckman

Mundy

2016

BMC Evol Biol

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BackgroundAvian plumage is ideal for investigating phenotypic convergence because of repeated evolution of the same within-feather patterns. In birds, there are three major types of regular patterns within feathers: scales, bars and spots. Existing models of within-feather pattern development suggest that scales have the simplest developmental mechanism, bars require more stringent regulation than scales, and spots have the strictest developmental parameters. We hypothesized that increasing stringency in the mechanism of pattern formation predicts the evolutionary trajectory of patterns, and hence scales should evolve first, followed by bars and finally spots. Here, using Bayesian phylogenetic modeling we reconstructed pattern evolution in the most spectacularly patterned avian clades – aquatic waterfowl (Anseriformes) and terrestrial gamebirds (Galliformes).ResultsOur analyses suggest that the ancestral state of plumage is an absence of patterns, but with some variability. Independent analyses of seven feather patches reveal that spots evolve after bars and scales. However, both scales and bars evolve frequently from an absence of patterns, contradicting our predictions. Over the whole body, many constraints are conserved from the level of patches, for example the largest number of steps from the ancestral state was required for spots to evolve.ConclusionsOverall there was remarkable similarity in the inferred evolutionary trajectories of plumage pattern evolution in Galliformes and Anseriformes, suggesting that developmental constraint is similar in these two orders, despite large ecological differences. These evolutionary transitions are largely congruent with a reaction–diffusion based model of pattern formation, but the evolution of bars from an unpatterned ancestor is more common than expected. Our study highlights the promise of testing models of development using comparative methods.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-016-0741-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Elaborate color patterns of individual chicken feathers may be formed by the agouti signaling protein

Cited by 36 publications

References 24 publications

Topology of Feather Melanocyte Progenitor Niche Allows Complex Pigment Patterns to Emerge

Topology of Feather Melanocyte Progenitor Niche Allows Complex Pigment Patterns to Emerge

Chimeric plumage coloration produced by ovarian transplantation in chickens

Evolutionary pathways to convergence in plumage patterns

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