The developmental role of Agouti in color pattern evolution

Marie Manceau, Vera S. Domingues, Ricardo Mallarino, Hopi E. Hoekstra

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

168 Scopus citations

Abstract

Animal color patterns can affect fitness in the wild; however, little is known about the mechanisms that control their formation and subsequent evolution. We took advantage of two locally camouflaged populations of Peromyscus mice to show that the negative regulator of adult pigmentation, Agouti, also plays a key developmental role in color pattern evolution. Genetic and functional analyses showed that ventral-specific embryonic expression of Agouti establishes a prepattern by delaying the terminal differentiation of ventral melanocytes. Moreover, a skin-specific increase in both the level and spatial domain of Agouti expression prevents melanocyte maturation in a regionalized manner, resulting in a novel and adaptive color pattern. Thus, natural selection favors late-acting, tissue-specific changes in embryonic Agouti expression to produce large changes in adult color pattern.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1062-1065
Number of pages4
JournalScience
Volume331
Issue number6020
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 25 2011
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The developmental role of Agouti in color pattern evolution'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this