Pigment pattern formation in the guppy, Poecilia reticulata, involves the Kita and Csf1ra receptor tyrosine kinases.

ABSTRACT: Males of the guppy (Poecilia reticulata) vary tremendously in their ornamental patterns, which are thought to have evolved in response to a complex interplay between natural and sexual selection. Although the selection pressures acting on the color patterns of the guppy have been extensively studied, little is known about the genes that control their ontogeny. Over 50 years ago, two autosomal color loci, blue and golden, were described, both of which play a decisive role in the formation of the guppy color pattern. Orange pigmentation is absent in the skin of guppies with a lesion in blue, suggesting a defect in xanthophore development. In golden mutants, the development of the melanophore pattern during embryogenesis and after birth is affected. Here, we show that blue and golden correspo

SUBMITTER: Kottler VA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3697969 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature