Jan. 31, 2013 — University of Utah
researchers decoded the genetic blueprint of the rock pigeon, unlocking secrets
about pigeons' Middle East origins, feral pigeons' kinship with escaped racing
birds, and how mutations give pigeons traits like a fancy feather hairdo known
as a head crest.
"Birds are a huge part of life on Earth,
and we know surprisingly little about their genetics," especially compared
with mammals and fish, says Michael D. Shapiro, one of the study's two
principal authors and an assistant professor of biology at the University of
Utah. "There are more than 10,000 species of birds, yet we know very
little about what makes them so diverse genetically and developmentally."
He adds that in the new study, "we've shown
a way forward to find the genetic basis of traits -- the molecular mechanisms
controlling animal diversity in pigeons. Using this approach, we expect to be
able to do this for other traits in pigeons, and it can be applied to other
birds and many other animals as well."
The study appears Jan. 31 on Science Express,
the website of the journal Science.
Shapiro led the research with Jun Wang of China's BGI-Shenzhen (formerly
Beijing Genomics Institute) and other scientists from BGI, the University of
Utah, Denmark's University of Copenhagen and the University of Texas M.D.
Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
This is a rock pigeon of the breed old Dutch capuchine,
which has a kind of head crest known as a mane. More than 80 breeds out of some
350 breeds of rock pigeon have head crests, which form when head and neck
feathers grow upward instead of downward. Scientists from the University of
Utah, BGI-Shenzen in China and other institutions decoded the genome or genetic
blueprint of the rock pigeon, then found that a single gene mutation linked to
the head crest trait.
(Credit: Michael D. Shapiro, University of Utah.)
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