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Genetic Mapping and Biochemical Basis of Yellow Feather Pigmentation in Budgerigars.

Cell | 2017

Parrot feathers contain red, orange, and yellow polyene pigments called psittacofulvins. Budgerigars are parrots that have been extensively bred for plumage traits during the last century, but the underlying genes are unknown. Here we use genome-wide association mapping and gene-expression analysis to map the Mendelian blue locus, which abolishes yellow pigmentation in the budgerigar. We find that the blue trait maps to a single amino acid substitution (R644W) in an uncharacterized polyketide synthase (MuPKS). When we expressed MuPKS heterologously in yeast, yellow pigments accumulated. Mass spectrometry confirmed that these yellow pigments match those found in feathers. The R644W substitution abolished MuPKS activity. Furthermore, gene-expression data from feathers of different bird species suggest that parrots acquired their colors through regulatory changes that drive high expression of MuPKS in feather epithelia. Our data also help formulate biochemical models that may explain natural color variation in parrots. VIDEO ABSTRACT.

Pubmed ID: 28985565 RIS Download

Associated grants

  • Agency: NIAMS NIH HHS, United States
    Id: R01 AR047364
  • Agency: NIAMS NIH HHS, United States
    Id: R01 AR060306
  • Agency: NIGMS NIH HHS, United States
    Id: T32 GM007276
  • Agency: NHGRI NIH HHS, United States
    Id: T32 HG000044

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This is a list of tools and resources that we have found mentioned in this publication.


GATK (tool)

RRID:SCR_001876

A software package to analyze next-generation resequencing data. The toolkit offers a wide variety of tools, with a primary focus on variant discovery and genotyping as well as strong emphasis on data quality assurance. Its robust architecture, powerful processing engine and high-performance computing features make it capable of taking on projects of any size. This software library makes writing efficient analysis tools using next-generation sequencing data very easy, and second it's a suite of tools for working with human medical resequencing projects such as 1000 Genomes and The Cancer Genome Atlas. These tools include things like a depth of coverage analyzers, a quality score recalibrator, a SNP/indel caller and a local realigner. (entry from Genetic Analysis Software)

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SnpEff (tool)

RRID:SCR_005191

Genetic variant annotation and effect prediction software toolbox that annotates and predicts effects of variants on genes (such as amino acid changes). By using standards, such as VCF, SnpEff makes it easy to integrate with other programs.

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RRID:SCR_005534

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BWA (tool)

RRID:SCR_010910

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Bowtie 2 (tool)

RRID:SCR_016368

Ultrafast and memory efficient tool for aligning sequencing reads to long reference sequences. Supports gapped, local, and paired end alignment modes. More suited to finding longer, gapped alignments in comparison with original Bowtie method.

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Bowtie (tool)

RRID:SCR_005476

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RRID:AB_228307

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