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Browsing by Author "Tixier-Boichard, Michele"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    The evolution of Sex-linked barring alleles in chickens involves both regulatory and coding changes in CDKN2A
    Thalmann, Doreen Schwochow; Ring, Henrik; Sundstrom, Elisabeth; Cao, Xiaofang; Larsson, Marten; Kerje, Susanne; Höglund, Andrey; Fogelholm, Jesper; Wright, Dominic; Jemth, Per; Hallböök, Finn; Bed'Hom, Bertrand; Dorshorst, Benjamin J.; Tixier-Boichard, Michele; Andersson, Leif (PLoS, 2017-04)
    Sex-linked barring is a fascinating plumage pattern in chickens recently shown to be associated with two non-coding and two missense mutations affecting the ARF transcript at the CDKN2A tumor suppressor locus. It however remained a mystery whether all four mutations are indeed causative and how they contribute to the barring phenotype. Here, we show that Sex-linked barring is genetically heterogeneous, and that the mutations form three functionally different variant alleles. The B0 allele carries only the two non-coding changes and is associated with the most dilute barring pattern, whereas the B1 and B2 alleles carry both the two non-coding changes and one each of the two missense mutations causing the Sex-linked barring and Sex-linked dilution phenotypes, respectively. The data are consistent with evolution of alleles where the non-coding changes occurred first followed by the two missense mutations that resulted in a phenotype more appealing to humans. We show that one or both of the non-coding changes are cis-regulatory mutations causing a higher CDKN2A expression, whereas the missense mutations reduce the ability of ARF to interact with MDM2. Caspase assays for all genotypes revealed no apoptotic events and our results are consistent with a recent study indicating that the loss of melanocyte progenitors in Sex-linked barring in chicken is caused by premature differentiation and not apoptosis. Our results show that CDKN2A is a major locus driving the differentiation of avian melanocytes in a temporal and spatial manner.
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    The feather pattern autosomal barring in chicken is strongly associated with segregation at the MC1R locus
    Thalmann, Doreen Schwochow; Bornelov, Susanne; Jiang, Tingxin; Li, Jingyi; Gourichon, David; Bed'Hom, Bertrand; Dorshorst, Benjamin J.; Chuong, Cheng-Ming; Tixier-Boichard, Michele; Andersson, Leif (2021-04-01)
    Color patterns within individual feathers are common in birds but little is known about the genetic mechanisms causing such patterns. Here, we investigate the genetic basis for autosomal barring in chicken, a horizontal striping pattern on individual feathers. Using an informative backcross, we demonstrate that the MC1R locus is strongly associated with this phenotype. A deletion at SOX10, underlying the dark brown phenotype on its own, affects the manifestation of the barring pattern. The coding variant L133Q in MC1R is the most likely causal mutation for autosomal barring in this pedigree. Furthermore, a genetic screen across six different breeds showing different patterning phenotypes revealed that the most striking shared characteristics among these breeds were that they all carried the MC1R alleles Birchen or brown. Our data suggest that the presence of activating MC1R mutations enhancing pigment synthesis is an important mechanism underlying pigmentation patterns on individual feathers in chicken. We propose that MC1R and its antagonist ASIP play a critical role for determining within-feather pigmentation patterns in birds by acting as activator and inhibitor possibly in a Turing reaction-diffusion model.
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    A Genomic Duplication is Associated with Ectopic Eomesodermin Expression in the Embryonic Chicken Comb and Two Duplex-comb Phenotypes
    Dorshorst, Benjamin J.; Harun-Or-Rashid, Mohammad; Bagherpoor, Alireza Jian; Rubin, Carl-Johan; Ashwell, Christopher M.; Gourichon, David; Tixier-Boichard, Michele; Hallböök, Finn; Andersson, Leif (PLoS, 2015-03)
    Duplex-comb (D) is one of three major loci affecting comb morphology in the domestic chicken. Here we show that the two Duplex-comb alleles, V-shaped (D*V) and Buttercup (D*C), are both associated with a 20 Kb tandem duplication containing several conserved putative regulatory elements located 200 Kb upstream of the eomesodermin gene (EOMES). EOMES is a T-box transcription factor that is involved in mesoderm specification during gastrulation. In D*V and D*C chicken embryos we find that EOMES is ectopically expressed in the ectoderm of the comb-developing region as compared to wild-type embryos. The confinement of the ectopic expression of EOMES to the ectoderm is in stark contrast to the causal mechanisms underlying the two other major comb loci in the chicken (Rose-comb and Pea-comb) in which the transcription factors MNR2 and SOX5 are ectopically expressed strictly in the mesenchyme. Interestingly, the causal mutations of all three major comb loci in the chicken are now known to be composed of large-scale structural genomic variants that each result in ectopic expression of transcription factors. The Duplex-comb locus also illustrates the evolution of alleles in domestic animals, which means that alleles evolve by the accumulation of two or more consecutive mutations affecting the phenotype. We do not yet know whether the V-shaped or Buttercup allele correspond to the second mutation that occurred on the haplotype of the original duplication event.