Molecular mechanism of sexual dimorphism and age-dependent changes in feather coloration

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Brilliant plumage is typical of male birds, thus sexual plumage dichromatism is seen in many avian species; however, the molecular mechanism underlying this remains unclear. In Okayama-Jidori chickens, chick and adult female plumages are countershading with dull-colored feathers. In contrast, adult males are colorful with bright ornamental feathers on the back. Using this breed, we investigated molecular mechanism underlying the sexual plumage dichromatism in birds.Our findings suggest that the local melanocortin system regulates feather pigmentation and the elaborate color pattern of individual feathers is formed in part by the antagonistic action of ASIP. Furthermore, the distal ASIP promoter not only acts to produce countershading in chicks and adult females, but also plays an important role for creating sexual plumage dichromatism. The ASIP gene may have been modified in its expression during evolution to develop phenotypic diversity between individuals of different sexes.