This provides a catalogue for us to figure out the many ways that genes produce the amazing diversity of colours, spots, and stripes we see across different animals.” Gene-editing confirms role of mutation in reptile colouration “The pet trade has created a huge pool of colour variation that would not have existed otherwise.
Pet boa constrictor color variations research skin#
“Ball pythons show incredible variation in skin colouring and patterning, which is part of their appeal for hobbyists, but also makes them really useful for researchers who want to understand the genetic basis of colouration,” says Rowan Barrett, Interim Director of McGill University’s Redpath Museum, the Canada Research Chair in Biodiversity Science, and the senior author on the recent paper in Current Biology. Due to the spectacular colour variations produced through captive breeding, an individual ball python ( Python regius – originally found in West and Central Africa) can sell for tens of thousands of dollars. Over 4.5 million American households keep reptiles, and close to one in five of these are snakes bred in captivity. The sale of captive-bred reptiles is a $1.4 billion industry within the U.S. CREDIT: McGill University Crowdsourcing biological data with the help of snake breeders They were able to identify a particular gene ( tfec) that plays a crucial role in reptile pigmentation generally and more specifically in a classic color variant found across vertebrates and distinguished by blotches of white, the piebald.Ī small sample of variations in colouring seen in captive-bred ball pythons (Python regius). To gain a better understanding of the genetic basis of colouration in vertebrates, a McGill University-led research team combined a range of techniques (whole gene sequencing, gene-editing, and electron microscopy) to look more closely at colour variations and patterning in the skin shed by ball pythons bred in captivity. For example, snakes have a type of chromatophore called iridophores that can generate iridescent colours by reflecting light. However, there are limits to what mice can tell us about other vertebrates because they don’t share all of the same types of colour-producing cells, known as chromatophores. But much of what we know about skin colouration and patterning in vertebrates generally, including in snakes, is based on lab mice.
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