title: The developmental role of Agouti in color pattern evolution.
abstract: Animal color patterns can affect fitness in the wild; however, little is known about the mechanisms that control their formation and subsequent evolution. We took advantage of two locally camouflaged populations of Peromyscus mice to show that the negative regulator of adult pigmentation, Agouti, also plays a key developmental role in color pattern evolution. Genetic and functional analyses showed that ventral-specific embryonic expression of Agouti establishes a prepattern by delaying the terminal differentiation of ventral melanocytes. Moreover, a skin-specific increase in both the level and spatial domain of Agouti expression prevents melanocyte maturation in a regionalized manner, resulting in a novel and adaptive color pattern. Thus, natural selection favors late-acting, tissue-specific changes in embryonic Agouti expression to produce large changes in adult color pattern.
authors.affiliation: Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Manceau
authors.forename: Vera S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Domingues
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mallarino
authors.forename: Hopi E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Hoekstra
mesh_terms: D054366:Agouti Signaling Protein / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D019521:Body Patterning; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D020405:Dermis / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian; D000078404:Epidermal Cells; D004817:Epidermis / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus; D015870:Gene Expression; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D006200:Hair Color / Q000235:genetics*; D018859:Hair Follicle / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008544:Melanocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D009154:Mutation; D010542:Peromyscus / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics*; D012867:Skin / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D054366:Agouti Signaling Protein