The genomic architecture of continuous plumage colour variation in the European barn owl (Tyto alba).

ABSTRACT: The maintenance of colour variation in wild populations has long fascinated evolutionary biologists, although most studies have focused on discrete traits exhibiting rather simple inheritance patterns and genetic architectures. However, the study of continuous colour traits and their potentially oligo- or polygenic genetic bases remains rare in wild populations. We studied the genetics of the continuously varying white-to-rufous plumage coloration of the European barn owl (Tyto alba) using a genome-wide association approach on the whole-genome data of 75 individuals. We confirmed a mutation at the melanocortin-1-receptor gene (MC1R) is involved in the coloration and identified two new regions, located in super-scaffolds 9 and 42. The combination of the three regions explains

SUBMITTER: Cumer T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10777144 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature