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Integrative and Comparative Biology Advance Access published online on July 3, 2008
Integrative and Comparative Biology, doi:10.1093/icb/icn061
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. All rights reserved. For permissions please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Evolutionary relationships among copies of feather beta (β) keratin genes from several avian orders§

Travis C. Glenn1,*,{dagger}, Jeffrey O. French*, Traci J. Heincelman*,{ddagger}, Kenneth L. Jones{dagger} and Roger H. Sawyer*
*Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA; {dagger}Department of Environmental Health Science, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA; {ddagger}Marine Science Program, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA

Correspondence: 1E-mail: Travis.Glenn{at}gmail.com

The feather beta (β) keratins of the white leghorn chicken (order Galliformes, Gallus gallus domesticus) are the products of a multigene family that includes claw, feather, feather-like, and scale genes (Presland et al. 1989a). Here we characterize the feather β-keratin genes in additional bird species. We designed primers for polymerase chain reactions (PCR) using sequences available from chicken, cloned the resulting amplicons to isolate individual copies, and sequenced multiple clones from each PCR reaction for which we obtained amplicons of the expected size. Feather β-keratins of 18 species from eight avian orders demonstrate DNA sequence variation within and among taxa, even in the protein-coding regions of the genes. Phylogenies of these data suggest that Galliformes (fowl-like birds), Psittaciformes (parrots), and possibly Falconiformes (birds of prey) existed as separate lineages before duplication of the feather β-keratin gene began in Ciconiiformes (herons, storks, and allies), Gruiformes (cranes, rails, and allies), and Piciformes (woodpeckers and allies). Sequences from single species of Coraciiformes (kingfishers) and Columbiformes (pigeons) are monophyletic and strikingly divergent, suggesting feather β-keratin genes in these birds also diverged after these species last shared a common ancestor with the other taxa investigated. Overall, these data demonstrate considerable variation in this structural protein in the relatively recent history of birds, and raise questions concerning the origin and homology of claw, feather-like, and scale β-keratins of birds and the reptilian β-keratins.

From the symposium "Reptile Genomics and Evolutionary Genetics" presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, January 2–6, 2008 at San Antonio, Texas.

§Dedicated to the Memory of Traci Jeanne Heincelman (deceased).


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