Collaborative Research: Plumage redness and good genes in the House Finch

雄鸟在羽毛颜色上表现出显着的变化，而雌性在选择配偶时会评估这些差异。 这种择偶的基本原理是，交配与遗传质量相关，因此，通过选择色彩鲜艳的雄性，雌性为后代获得良好的基因。在自然界中，有助于增强抗病性的基因是最典型的，因为病原体极大地影响了宿主的繁殖和生存。因此，“抗性”基因通常被认为是与鲜艳颜色相关的好基因。羽毛颜色信号好基因的假设将首先通过确定当家雀感染细菌病原体时，哪些基因被打开或关闭来测试。 基因表达将使用称为微阵列的工具来确定，该工具可以同时准确地量化数千个基因表达的增加或减少。基因表达模式将在颜色鲜艳和颜色单调的雄性家雀之间进行比较。 如果“好基因假说”是正确的，那么聪明的雄性应该会显示出与那些单调乏味的雄性不同的基因表达谱。 此外，已知在抗病性中发挥作用的特定基因的开启将有助于确定羽毛颜色是否与特定的好基因有关。这项研究很重要，因为它提高了对导致抗病性进化的进化过程的理解。 了解抗病性的各个方面对于预测和应对野生动物、家畜和人类中新出现的传染病的威胁至关重要。

Male birds display remarkable variation in plumage coloration, and females assess these differences when selecting mates. The rationale for such mate choice is that ornamentation is correlated with genetic quality so that, by choosing colorful males, females obtain good genes for their offspring. Genes contributing to greater disease resistance are quintessential in the natural world because pathogens greatly affect their hosts' reproduction and survival. As a result, "resistance" genes have often been assumed to be the good genes associated with bright coloration. The hypothesis of plumage coloration signaling good genes will be tested first by determining which genes are switched on or off when House Finches are infected with the bacterial pathogen, Mycoplasma gallicepticum. Gene expression will be determined using tools called microarrays that can accurately quantify the increase or decrease in expression of thousands of genes simultaneously. Gene expression patterns will be compared between brightly colored and drably colored male House finches. If the Good Genes Hypothesis is correct, brighter males should show different gene expression profiles than drabber ones. Furthermore, the turning on of specific genes known to play a role in disease resistance will help determine whether plumage coloration is associated with specific good genes. This research is important because it improves understanding of the evolutionary processes that lead to the evolution of disease resistance. Understanding all facets of disease resistance is crucial for predicting and responding to the threats of emerging infectious diseases in wildlife, domestic animals, and humans.