Post by Claudia Stäubert

Our paper, "Ultrarapid MC1R protein and associated plumage color evolution in the domestic chicken", is now published in PNAS! 🎉 https://lnkd.in/ePZbAmUf The remarkable work of the team led by Leif Andersson at Uppsala University, and in particular Cheng Ma, revealed an extraordinary allelic diversity of the pigmentation gene #MC1R through the analysis of more than 10,000 #chicken #genomes. At Universität Leipzig, we investigated how this remarkable genetic diversity translates into functional differences at the receptor level. Aenne Liebing carried out the functional characterization of MC1R variants. We used #signaling analyses to determine how specific mutations affect #receptor function and ultimately drive differences in plumage coloration. Complementary structural modeling analyses by Gunnar Kleinau, Patrick Scheerer, and colleagues at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin provided molecular insights into the consequences of these mutations. Many thanks to all co-authors and collaborators who made this work possible! #PNAS #MC1R #GPCR #Evolution #EvolutionaryBiology #Genomics #MolecularBiology #ReceptorBiology #Pigmentation #ChickenGenetics #StructuralBiology #LifeSciences #Research #SFB1423