Main CIBIO-INBIO RESEARCH IS ON THE COVER OF THE SCIENCE MAGAZINE
CIBIO-InBIO Researchers find gene responsible for creating sexual dichromatism in birds and the paper is on the cover of the prestigious Science Magazine
This discovery was made by an international team including CIBIO-InBIO researchers Miguel Carneiro, Ricardo Lopes (Photo), Pedro Araújo, Małgorzata Gazda, Pedro Andrade, Sandra Trigo, Cristiana Marques, Paulo Pereira and Sandra Afonso.
The researchers proved that with many years of selective breeding, the DNA of mosaic canary would be of canary origin with the exception of genes responsible for creating differences in coloration between males and females.They found a single strongly divergent region in the DNA of mosaic canary compared to other canary breeds. In this divergent the region of the genome, there was a gene whose expression differs between sexes and is regulated in tissue-specific manner. Researchers have also found that this pattern of gene expression seems to be a common mechanism for sexual dichromatism in birds.