Multiple Pathways to Red Carotenoid Coloration: House Finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) Do Not Use CYP2J19 to Produce Red Plumage.

ABSTRACT: The carotenoid-based colours of birds are a celebrated example of biological diversity and an important system for the study of evolution. Recently, a two-step mechanism, with the enzymes cytochrome P450 2J19 (CYP2J19) and 3-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase 1-like (BDH1L), was described for the biosynthesis of red ketocarotenoids from yellow dietary carotenoids in the retina and plumage of birds. A common assumption has been that all birds with ketocarotenoid-based plumage coloration used this CYP2J19/BDH1L mechanism to produce red feathers. We tested this assumption in house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) by examining the catalytic function of the house finch homologues of these enzymes and tracking their expression in birds growing new feathers. We found that CYP2J19 and BDH1L did not catal

SUBMITTER: Koch RE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12010460 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature