Genetic mapping and biochemical basis of yellow feather pigmentation in budgerigars
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Birds display some of the most diverse coloration mechanisms of all animals, yet relatively little is known about the molecular genetics of feather colors in parrots. This family of birds exhibits a unique class of yellow, orange and red polyene pigments called psittacofulvins, which are not known to exist in other vertebrates. The budgerigar or common parakeet (Melopsittacus undulatus) has dozens of simple Mendelian feather pigmentation traits that have arisen over the last several hundred generations, has been the subject of classical genetic studies dating back nearly 100 years, a sequenced genome, and is widespread as a household pet. It is thus an ideal species for mapping under-studied feather traits, which may reveal new facts about feather development, and about the molecular changes underlying color-related adaptations in wild parrots. Genetic mapping in non-model organisms is commonly performed by identifying single-nucleotide polymorphisms through reduced representation sequencing, which involves the high-throughput sequencing of restriction fragment ends. A common problem with this technique is allelic dropout due to restriction site polymorphism, which occurs because marker alleles linked to the non-cut restriction site allele are unobservable. These linked sites can be detected using a novel statistical method that involves modeling sequencing coverage across individuals as a function of the unobserved restriction site alleles. Thus error-prone sites can be removed from the data set. Genome-wide association mapping, using these techniques and others, shows that psittacofulvin pigmentation in budgerigars is controlled by a single gene encoding a novel polyketide synthase. This enzyme was sufficient to cause psittacofulvin pigment accumulation when heterologously expressed in yeast. Budgerigar polyketide synthase is strongly expressed in developing feathers, but not those of other bird species tested, suggesting that this pigmentation mechanism in parrots evolved through a derived regulatory mutation.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2017 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Cooke, Thomas F |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Genetics. |
| Primary advisor | Bustamante, Carlos |
| Thesis advisor | Bustamante, Carlos |
| Thesis advisor | Bassik, Michael |
| Thesis advisor | Fire, Andrew Zachary |
| Thesis advisor | Kingsley, David M. (David Mark) |
| Advisor | Bassik, Michael |
| Advisor | Fire, Andrew Zachary |
| Advisor | Kingsley, David M. (David Mark) |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Thomas F. Cooke. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Genetics. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2017. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2017 by Thomas Fretwell Cooke
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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