Evolution of Feathers and Fur Colors
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Evolution of Avian Plumage Color
Bird feathers display one of the most diverse ranges of coloration found among vertebrates. Plumage may be black, brown, white, red, orange, yellow, blue, green or patterned in combinations of these colors. This extraordinary diversity results from interactions among pigments, feather microstructure, developmental processes, genetics, physiology and evolutionary selection.
Feathers themselves evolved for several functions, including insulation, flight, waterproofing, communication and camouflage. Once feathers became important visual surfaces, modifications to pigments and feather structures provided opportunities for natural and sexual selection to generate increasingly diverse coloration.
Modern genetic and genomic studies show that bird color evolution does not depend on a single mechanism. Similar colors can arise through different biological pathways, while the same genes and pathways have repeatedly been modified in unrelated bird lineages. Plumage coloration therefore provides an important model for understanding adaptation, convergent evolution, sexual selection and the relationship between genes and visible traits.
Pigments and Structural Color
Bird plumage colors arise from several major mechanisms.
Melanins produce many black, gray, brown and reddish-brown colors. Eumelanin generally produces darker black and brown tones, while pheomelanin contributes lighter reddish and yellow-brown coloration. Melanin deposition is controlled by a network of pigmentation genes and developmental processes affecting melanocytes and melanosomes.
Carotenoids produce many yellow, orange and red colors. Unlike melanin, carotenoids are generally obtained through the diet and may then be deposited directly into feathers or chemically modified before deposition. Variation in carotenoid metabolism contributes significantly to the diversity of brightly colored plumage.
Parrots possess an additional class of pigments known as psittacofulvins. These pigments can produce vivid yellow and red coloration and interact with feather structure to contribute to green plumage. Genetic studies of budgerigars and other parrots have begun identifying the biochemical pathways responsible for producing and modifying these pigments.
Many blue, violet, iridescent and ultraviolet colors are produced not primarily by pigments but by microscopic feather structures. Nanostructures interact with light so that particular wavelengths are reflected. Structural mechanisms may also interact with pigments, allowing feathers to produce colors that neither mechanism could create independently.
The visible color of a feather can therefore result from multiple layers of biological organization, including pigment chemistry, pigment concentration, feather microstructure and the visual system of the observing bird.
Genetics of Plumage Color
Genetic studies have identified numerous genes involved in bird coloration. Some genes repeatedly influence plumage evolution across unrelated species.
One of the best studied is MC1R, the melanocortin-1 receptor gene. Variants of MC1R have been associated with changes between light and dark plumage in numerous birds. Studies of bananaquits, chickens and other species demonstrate that relatively small genetic changes can sometimes produce conspicuous differences in coloration.
However, MC1R does not explain every example of melanism. Studies of some wild bird populations have found extreme differences in plumage pigmentation without corresponding MC1R changes. Similar outward colors can therefore evolve through different molecular pathways.
Other genes influence pigment production, pigment-cell development and melanosome biology. These include ASIP, TYR, SLC45A2, PMEL17, EDNRB2, MITF and SOX10. Changes in these genes can alter whether pigments are produced, which pigments dominate and where pigment-producing cells occur in developing feathers.
Color patterns can also result from regulatory changes rather than alterations to protein-coding genes. Changes affecting when, where or how strongly a gene is expressed can produce striking differences among populations and species.
Genomic research has increasingly shown that feather coloration often results from interactions among several genes. Epistasis, in which the effects of one gene depend on variants at another gene, can produce a large range of colors and patterns from a comparatively limited set of pigmentation pathways.
Carotenoids and the Evolution of Red Plumage
Carotenoid coloration provides an important example of how metabolism can shape visible evolutionary traits.
A major discovery in bird coloration genetics was the identification of CYP2J19, a cytochrome P450 gene associated with the conversion of yellow dietary carotenoids into red pigments. Work on zebra finches and other birds demonstrated that modification of carotenoid metabolism can create bright red coloration.
Evolutionary studies of weaverbirds indicate that changes in the expression of CYP2J19 are associated with transitions between different plumage colors. The gene therefore illustrates how evolution can modify an existing metabolic pathway to generate new visual signals.
Hormones can also influence these processes. Research on red-backed fairywrens has shown that testosterone can regulate carotenoid-related coloration associated with CYP2J19. Plumage color may therefore connect genetics, metabolism, endocrine physiology and reproductive behavior.
Studies across passerine birds suggest that carotenoid coloration has evolved repeatedly and has been gained, modified and sometimes lost during avian diversification.
Parrot Color Evolution
Parrots provide one of the clearest examples of evolutionary innovation in bird coloration.
Unlike most birds, parrots produce psittacofulvin pigments within their feathers. Genetic mapping in budgerigars identified a polyketide synthase involved in producing these pigments. Mutations affecting this pathway can change feather colors and help explain familiar yellow, green and other parrot plumage variants.
More recent molecular research has identified mechanisms regulating the balance between red and yellow psittacofulvin pigments. Changes in pigment production can therefore shift plumage across a range of bright colors.
Comparative studies also show that similar colors have evolved independently in different parrot lineages. This convergent evolution demonstrates how related biochemical pathways can repeatedly be modified to produce comparable visual outcomes.
Structural Color and Feather Microstructure
Not all evolutionary changes in plumage can be understood by studying pigment genes alone.
Structural colors depend on the microscopic and nanoscale organization of feathers. Changes in feather architecture can alter how light is scattered and reflected, producing blue, violet, ultraviolet and iridescent appearances.
Studies of fairy-wrens illustrate how structural coloration, melanin and pigmentation genes can evolve together. Differences between black and structurally blue plumage have been associated with genetic regions including ASIP and SCUBE2, while earlier research demonstrated evolutionary changes involving feather microstructure and the melanocortin pathway.
These findings show that bird color evolution often involves coordinated changes at several biological levels rather than simple changes in pigment quantity.
Natural Selection, Sexual Selection and Communication
Plumage coloration can affect survival and reproduction.
Natural selection may favor colors that provide camouflage, protection or adaptation to particular environments. Dark and light coloration can influence how easily birds are detected against different backgrounds, while feather pigments and structures may also affect physical properties of feathers.
Sexual selection can favor conspicuous colors used during courtship and competition. Plumage traits may influence mate choice, and evolutionary changes in pigmentation genes can therefore become associated with reproductive success.
Research connecting pigmentation genes with measures of sexual selection indicates that mate choice can leave detectable evolutionary signatures in genes involved in coloration.
Color signals may also be linked to physiology. Carotenoid coloration, hormone levels and pigment metabolism can interact, potentially connecting visible signals with an individual's physiological state.
Bird coloration consequently sits at the intersection of ecology, behavior, physiology and genetics.
Domestication and Artificial Selection
Domesticated birds provide particularly powerful examples of how selection can rapidly modify plumage.
Domestic chickens display enormous color diversity compared with their wild ancestors. Variants in MC1R, PMEL17, SLC45A2, EDNRB2, CDKN2A/B and other loci have been associated with black, white, dun, smoky, barred, mottled and diluted plumage.
Artificial selection has preserved combinations of alleles that might remain rare in wild populations. Interactions among these genes can produce complex phenotypes that cannot be explained by any single locus.
Domestic pigeons provide another striking example. Regulatory evolution, introgression, copy-number variation and combinations of pigmentation mutations have generated an enormous variety of colors and patterns.
Research on rock pigeons has linked plumage diversity to loci including EDNRB2 and SOX10. Introgression of regulatory alleles between populations has also contributed to wing-pattern diversity, demonstrating that gene flow can introduce genetic variants that subsequently become targets of selection.
Duck studies similarly identify MC1R, MITF and regulatory regions involved in black, white and spotted plumage.
Domesticated birds therefore function as evolutionary experiments demonstrating how rapidly genetic variation can generate visible phenotypic diversity under strong selection.
Convergent Evolution and Repeated Genetic Pathways
One of the major lessons from plumage genetics is that evolution repeatedly uses some of the same biological pathways.
MC1R has independently contributed to dark coloration in multiple bird groups. Carotenoid-processing pathways have repeatedly produced red and yellow coloration. Developmental genes controlling melanocytes recur in studies of chickens, pigeons, ducks and wild birds.
At the same time, similar colors can be produced through unrelated mechanisms. Black feathers may result from changes in different components of the melanin pathway, and bright colors may be produced by pigments, feather structures or combinations of both.
Evolution therefore exhibits both predictability and flexibility. Some genes become evolutionary targets again and again because they efficiently alter coloration, yet many alternative molecular routes can lead to similar visible traits.
Plumage Color as a Model of Evolution
Bird coloration has become an important system for studying how genetic variation produces evolutionary change.
Advances in genome sequencing, genetic mapping and comparative genomics increasingly allow researchers to connect specific DNA changes with feather pigments, structures and patterns. Studies can now investigate not only whether a gene contributes to color but also whether evolutionary change occurred through altered protein structure, altered gene expression, gene duplication, copy-number variation, introgression or interactions among multiple loci.
Plumage studies also demonstrate the importance of connecting molecular mechanisms to ecology. Identifying a pigmentation gene is only one part of understanding evolution. Researchers must also determine how the resulting color affects camouflage, communication, mate choice, physiology and survival.
The extraordinary range of bird coloration therefore provides a bridge between molecular genetics and the broader study of evolutionary adaptation.
Conclusion
Avian plumage color is produced by an interacting system of pigments, feather structures, genetics, development, metabolism and physiology. Melanins generate many dark and earth-toned colors, carotenoids contribute yellow through red coloration, parrots synthesize distinctive psittacofulvin pigments, and nanoscale feather structures create many blue and iridescent colors.
Genetic research has identified recurring roles for genes such as MC1R, CYP2J19, PMEL17, EDNRB2, SLC45A2, MITF, ASIP and SOX10. Yet no single pathway explains bird coloration as a whole. Similar appearances can arise independently through different genetic and developmental mechanisms.
Natural selection, sexual selection, gene flow and artificial selection have all contributed to the remarkable variety of feather colors found among birds. Studies of wild species reveal adaptation and signaling under natural conditions, while chickens, pigeons and other domesticated birds demonstrate how rapidly selection can reshape pigmentation systems.
Taken together, research on avian plumage shows that color evolution is both highly constrained by inherited biological pathways and remarkably inventive in the ways those pathways can be modified. Bird feathers consequently provide one of the clearest visual records of the interaction between genes, development, ecology and evolutionary selection.
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General Avian Plumage Evolution and Color Genetics
1. Molecular and Evolutionary Basis of Avian Plumage Colour
[DOI:10.3390/biology15141178 | Lu Bai; Jun Yin | Biology | 2026] Reviews the molecular, developmental, and evolutionary mechanisms producing bird coloration, integrating melanins, carotenoids, structural colors, psittacofulvins, genetics, and natural and sexual selection.
2. Feather Function and the Evolution of Birds
[DOI:10.1111/brv.12918 | Ryan S. Terrill; Allison J. Shultz | Biological Reviews | 2023] Reviews the evolutionary history of feathers and examines how insulation, flight, waterproofing, communication, camouflage, and coloration contributed to feather diversification.
3. Avian Coloration Genetics: Recent Advances and Emerging Questions
[DOI:10.1093/jhered/esab015 | Rosalyn Price-Waldman; Mary Caswell Stoddard | Journal of Heredity | 2021] Reviews genetic discoveries underlying bird coloration and shows how genomics is revealing both shared and independently evolved pathways responsible for plumage diversity.
4. The Genomics of Coloration Provides Insights into Adaptive Evolution
[DOI:10.1038/s41576-020-0234-z | Anna H. Orteu; Chris D. Jiggins | Nature Reviews Genetics | 2020] Reviews how genomic studies of animal coloration reveal the genetic architecture of adaptation, convergence, natural selection, and evolutionary novelty.
5. Interactions between Colour-Producing Mechanisms and Their Effects on the Integumentary Colour Palette
[DOI:10.1098/rstb.2016.0536 | Matthew D. Shawkey; Liliana D'Alba | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B | 2017] Explains how pigments and structural mechanisms interact within feathers and other integumentary tissues, greatly expanding the range of colors available to natural selection.
6. Genetics of Colouration in Birds
[DOI:10.1016/j.semcdb.2013.05.005 | Alexandre Roulin; Anne-Lyse Ducrest | Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology | 2013] Reviews the genetic mechanisms controlling melanin, carotenoid, and structural coloration and discusses their evolutionary significance in birds.
7. How Colorful Are Birds? Evolution of the Avian Plumage Color Gamut
[DOI:10.1093/beheco/arr088 | Mary Caswell Stoddard; Richard O. Prum | Behavioral Ecology | 2011] Quantifies avian plumage colors within bird visual space and demonstrates the exceptional range of colors generated during avian evolution.
8. Vertebrate Pigmentation: From Underlying Genes to Adaptive Function
[DOI:10.1016/j.tig.2010.02.002 | Joanna K. Hubbard et al. | Trends in Genetics | 2010] Synthesizes pigmentation genetics across vertebrates and explains how changes in conserved pathways repeatedly generate adaptive color variation.
9. Evolution of Avian Plumage Color in a Tetrahedral Color Space: A Phylogenetic Analysis of New World Buntings
[DOI:10.1086/587526 | Mary Caswell Stoddard; Richard O. Prum | The American Naturalist | 2008] Uses avian visual models and phylogenetic analysis to reconstruct how complex plumage colors diversified within New World buntings.
Carotenoid Pigmentation, Red Coloration, and Hormonal Regulation
10. The Evolution of Carotenoid-Based Plumage Colours in Passerine Birds
[DOI:10.1111/1365-2656.13791 | Kaspar Delhey; Mihai Valcu; James Dale; Bart Kempenaers | Journal of Animal Ecology | 2023] Examines large-scale evolutionary patterns in carotenoid plumage and how ecology, pigmentation mechanisms, and ancestry influence yellow, orange, and red coloration.
11. Testosterone Regulates CYP2J19-Linked Carotenoid Signal Expression in Male Red-Backed Fairywrens
[DOI:10.1098/rspb.2020.1687 | Sarah Khalil et al. | Proceedings of the Royal Society B | 2020] Demonstrates how hormones can regulate carotenoid-processing genes, linking physiology and reproductive signaling to the expression of evolutionary color traits.
12. Expression of a Carotenoid-Modifying Gene and Evolution of Red Coloration in Weaverbirds
[PMID:29230900 | Hanlu Twyman et al. | Molecular Ecology | 2018] Shows that variation in CYP2J19 expression is associated with evolutionary transitions in red coloration among weaverbirds.
13. Red Carotenoid Coloration in the Zebra Finch Is Controlled by a Cytochrome P450 Gene Cluster
[DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2016.04.047 | Nicholas I. Mundy et al. | Current Biology | 2016] Identifies CYP2J19 as central to converting yellow dietary carotenoids into red pigments, revealing an important biochemical innovation in avian red coloration.
14. Genetic Basis for Red Coloration in Birds
[PMCID:PMC5125026 | Ricardo J. Lopes et al. | Current Biology | 2016] Independently demonstrates the role of CYP2J19 in red carotenoid coloration and links pigment metabolism with the repeated evolution of conspicuous red plumage.
15. Diversity, Physiology, and Evolution of Avian Plumage Carotenoids and the Role of Carotenoid-Protein Interactions in Plumage Color Appearance
[PMID:25637658 | Amy M. LaFountain; Richard O. Prum; Harry A. Frank | Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics | 2015] Reviews carotenoid chemistry and shows how pigment modification and interactions with feather proteins generate much of the yellow-to-red diversity seen among birds.
16. Ancient Origins and Multiple Appearances of Carotenoid-Pigmented Feathers in Birds
[DOI:10.1098/rspb.2014.0806 | Daniel B. Thomas et al. | Proceedings of the Royal Society B | 2014] Reconstructs the evolution of carotenoid-colored feathers and suggests carotenoid plumage has ancient origins followed by repeated evolutionary gains and losses.
Parrot Pigmentation and Psittacofulvins
17. Convergent Evolution of Parrot Plumage Coloration
[DOI:10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae107 | Fushi Ke et al. | PNAS Nexus | 2024] Shows that similar plumage colors evolved independently in parrots through convergent modifications of pigment-producing pathways.
18. A Molecular Mechanism for Bright Color Variation in Parrots
[DOI:10.1126/science.adp7710 | Roberto Arbore et al. | Science | 2024] Identifies molecular changes controlling the balance between red and yellow psittacofulvin pigments, helping explain spectacular parrot color diversification.
19. Genetic Mapping and Biochemical Basis of Yellow Feather Pigmentation in Budgerigars
[DOI:10.1016/j.cell.2017.08.016 | Thomas F. Cooke et al. | Cell | 2017] Identifies a polyketide synthase involved in parrot-specific psittacofulvin pigments and explains how mutations alter yellow and green budgerigar feathers.
Structural Color and Fairy-Wren Plumage Evolution
20. Genetic Basis and Evolution of Structural Color Polymorphism in an Australian Songbird
[DOI:10.1093/molbev/msae046 | Simon Yung Wa Sin et al. | Molecular Biology and Evolution | 2024] Identifies ASIP, SCUBE2, and other candidate regions associated with black versus structurally blue fairy-wren plumage and reconstructs the direction of color evolution.
21. Concordant Evolution of Plumage Colour, Feather Microstructure and a Melanocortin Receptor Gene between Mainland and Island Populations of a Fairy-Wren
[DOI:10.1098/rspb.2004.2779 | Stéphanie M. Doucet et al. | Proceedings of the Royal Society B | 2004] Shows how changes in MC1R, melanin deposition, and feather nanostructure accompanied divergence between blue mainland and black island fairy-wrens.
Wild-Bird Melanin Genetics, MC1R, and Sexual Selection
22. Evolution of the Melanocortin-1 Receptor (MC1R) in Boobies and Gannets
[DOI:10.1093/jhered/esr151 | Patricia C. Baião; Patricia G. Parker | Journal of Heredity | 2012] Examines MC1R evolution across seabirds to determine when this major pigmentation gene does and does not explain interspecific plumage variation.
23. Investigating the Role of the Melanocortin-1 Receptor Gene in an Extreme Case of Microgeographical Variation in Melanin-Based Plumage Pigmentation
[DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0050906 | Multiple authors | PLOS ONE | 2012] Tests whether extreme local differences in bird melanism are attributable to MC1R and demonstrates that similar color phenotypes can arise through other mechanisms.
24. Evolution of an Avian Pigmentation Gene Correlates with a Measure of Sexual Selection
[PMCID:PMC2270924 | Nicola J. Nadeau et al. | Proceedings of the Royal Society B | 2007] Finds evolutionary changes in pigmentation genes associated with sexual selection, illustrating how mate choice can leave detectable signatures in color-related genes.
25. A Window on the Genetics of Evolution: MC1R and Plumage Colouration in Birds
[DOI:10.1098/rspb.2005.3107 | Nicholas I. Mundy | Proceedings of the Royal Society B | 2005] Reviews evidence that evolutionary changes in MC1R repeatedly contribute to light-dark plumage differences across distantly related bird species.
26. Conserved Genetic Basis of a Quantitative Plumage Trait Involved in Mate Choice
[DOI:10.1126/science.1093834 | Nicholas I. Mundy et al. | Science | 2004] Shows that variation in a conserved pigmentation pathway can alter a plumage trait important in mate choice, connecting molecular evolution with sexual selection.
27. The Molecular Basis of an Avian Plumage Polymorphism in the Wild
[DOI:10.1016/S0960-9822(01)00158-0 | E. Theron et al. | Current Biology | 2001] Identifies an MC1R mutation closely associated with melanic bananaquits, providing an early example of a specific mutation underlying adaptive plumage variation in nature.
Chicken and Other Galliform Plumage Genetics
28. Ultrarapid MC1R Protein and Associated Plumage Color Evolution in the Domestic Chicken
[DOI:10.1073/pnas.2605288123 | Multiple authors | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | 2026] Documents exceptionally rapid diversification of chicken MC1R alleles and shows how domestication generated extensive plumage-color variation from a comparatively uniform wild ancestor.
29. Genetic Basis of Chicken Plumage Color in Artificial Population of Complex Epistasis
[DOI:10.1111/age.13094 | Multiple authors | Animal Genetics | 2021] Demonstrates how interactions among pigmentation loci create complex plumage phenotypes rather than colors being controlled by single genes alone.
30. Polymorphism in MC1R, TYR and ASIP Genes in Different Colored Feather Chickens
[DOI:10.1007/s13205-019-1710-z | Multiple authors | 3 Biotech | 2019] Finds pigmentation-gene variants associated with white, gray, black, spotted, and other feather phenotypes.
31. Endothelin Receptor B2 Is Responsible for Tyrosinase-Independent Recessive White and Mottled Plumage Phenotypes in the Chicken
[DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0086361 | Kumiko Kinoshita et al. | PLOS ONE | 2014] Connects EDNRB2 variation with white and mottled feathers through effects on melanocyte development rather than melanin synthesis itself.
32. Association between Polymorphism in the Melanocortin 1 Receptor Gene and E Locus Plumage Color Phenotype
[DOI:10.3382/ps.2013-03611 | Multiple authors | Poultry Science | 2014] Tests associations between MC1R variants and classical plumage-color categories, further resolving the genetic architecture of chicken coloration.
33. Sex-Linked Barring in Chickens Is Controlled by the CDKN2A/B Tumour Suppressor Locus
[DOI:10.1111/j.1755-148X.2010.00700.x | Anders R. Hellström et al. | Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research | 2010] Identifies a surprising genetic mechanism producing alternating pigmented and unpigmented bands in chicken feathers.
34. Genetic Variation of Chicken MC1R Gene in Different Plumage Colour Populations
[DOI:10.1080/00071668.2010.518408 | Xiang Guo et al. | British Poultry Science | 2010] Compares MC1R variation among differently colored chicken populations and documents the extensive allelic diversity produced through domestication.
35. Mutations in SLC45A2 Cause Plumage Color Variation in Chicken and Japanese Quail
[DOI:10.1534/genetics.106.063107 | Ulrika Gunnarsson et al. | Genetics | 2007] Demonstrates that homologous pigmentation pathways produce related dilution phenotypes in two independently domesticated bird species.
36. Plumage Color and Feather Pecking—Behavioral Differences Associated with PMEL17 Genotypes in Chicken
[DOI:10.1007/s10519-006-9125-0 | Daniel Nätt et al. | Behavior Genetics | 2007] Examines associations between a major pigmentation gene and behavior, illustrating possible pleiotropic consequences of selection on plumage traits.
37. The Dominant White, Dun and Smoky Color Variants in Chicken Are Associated with Insertion/Deletion Polymorphisms in the PMEL17 Gene
[DOI:10.1534/genetics.104.027995 | Susanne Kerje et al. | Genetics | 2004] Shows how different mutations in PMEL17 alter melanosome development and produce several striking feather-color variants.
38. Melanocortin 1-Receptor (MC1R) Mutations Are Associated with Plumage Colour in Chicken
[DOI:10.1046/j.1365-2052.2003.00991.x | Susanne Kerje et al. | Animal Genetics | 2003] Links different MC1R alleles with major chicken plumage phenotypes and demonstrates the importance of the melanocortin pathway in domesticated birds.
Duck Plumage Genetics
39. Genome-Wide Association Study Reveals the Genetic Basis of Duck Plumage Colors
[DOI:10.3390/genes14040856 | Xinye Zhang et al. | Genes | 2023] Links black coloration principally to MC1R, white coloration to MITF, and additional genomic regions to spotted duck plumage.
40. Genetic Fine-Mapping Reveals Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Mutations in the MC1R Regulatory Region Associated with Duck Melanism
[DOI:10.1111/mec.16924 | Hehe Liu et al. | Molecular Ecology | 2023] Shows that regulatory as well as coding changes in MC1R contribute to black plumage in ducks.
Pigeon Plumage Genetics and Pattern Evolution
41. An Allelic Series at the EDNRB2 Locus Controls Diverse Piebalding Patterns in the Domestic Pigeon
[DOI:10.1371/journal.pgen.1010880 | Elizabeth A. Maclary et al. | PLOS Genetics | 2023] Identifies multiple EDNRB2 alleles producing different distributions of pigmented and unpigmented feathers.
42. A Copy Number Variant Is Associated with a Spectrum of Pigmentation Patterns in the Rock Pigeon
[DOI:10.1371/journal.pgen.1008274 | Rebecca Bruders et al. | PLOS Genetics | 2020] Links copy-number variation with graded plumage-pattern differences, illustrating how structural genomic changes generate continuous phenotypic diversity.
43. SOX10 Regulates Multiple Genes to Direct Eumelanin versus Pheomelanin Production in Domestic Rock Pigeon
[DOI:10.1111/pcmr.12778 | Eric T. Domyan et al. | Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research | 2019] Demonstrates how a developmental regulator influences the switch between dark eumelanin and reddish pheomelanin production.
44. Introgression of Regulatory Alleles and a Missense Coding Mutation Drive Plumage Pattern Diversity in the Rock Pigeon
[DOI:10.7554/eLife.34803 | Anna I. Vickrey et al. | eLife | 2018] Demonstrates how introgression and regulatory evolution at a major pigmentation locus generated contrasting pigeon wing patterns.
45. Epistatic and Combinatorial Effects of Pigmentary Gene Mutations in the Domestic Pigeon
[DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2014.01.020 | Eric T. Domyan et al. | Current Biology | 2014] Shows how combinations of mutations at different pigmentation genes create the enormous color diversity selected in domestic pigeons.
