The Chicken Frizzle Feather Is Due to an α-Keratin (KRT75) Mutation That Causes a Defective Rachis

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1002748
• Publication Date: 2012-07-20T05:12:55Z
• Authors: Chen Siang Ng; Ping Wu; John Foley; Anne Foley; Merry-Lynn McDonald; Wen-Tau Juan; Chih-Jen Huang; Yu-Ting Lai; Wen-Sui Lo; Chih-Feng Chen; Suzanne M. Leal; Huanmin Zhang; Randall B. Widelitz; Pragna I. Patel; Wen-Hsiung Li; Cheng-Ming Chuong
• Keywords: Pedigree chart; Major gene

Feathers have complex forms and are an excellent model to study the development evolution of morphologies. Existing chicken feather mutants especially useful for identifying genetic determinants formation. This focused on gene F, underlying frizzle trait that has a characteristic curled rachis barbs in domestic chickens. Our developmental biology studies identified defects medulla formation, physical revealed curls stepwise manner. The is transmitted autosomal incomplete dominant mode. A whole-genome linkage scan five pedigrees with 2678 SNPs association locus keratin gene-enriched region within group E22C19W28_E50C23. Sequence analyses cluster 69 bp in-frame deletion conserved KRT75, α-keratin gene. Retroviral-mediated expression mutated F cDNA wild-type rectrix qualitatively changed bending some features feathers including irregular kinks, severe near their distal ends, substantially higher variations among samples comparison normal feathers. These results confirmed KRT75 as demonstrates potential our approach forms.