Project description
Mechanisms of iridescence in birds’ feathers
Many birds’ feathers have beautiful iridescent colours produced by the interaction of light and organic structures – melanin-containing organelles called melanosomes. Birds are unique in that their melanosomes have four different possible nanoscale arrangements: solid or hollow rods and solid or hollow platelets. It is not known how these arrangements are formed during development. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the MoDeIF project will use developmental genetics methods to test hypotheses about the developmental and molecular pathways responsible. Comparative transcriptomics and investigation of the physical processes via electron microscopy should shed light on underlying mechanisms, which are relevant to evolution as well as to synthetic colour production.
Objective
Iridescent structural colors produce some of the most vibrant colors in nature, particularly in birds such as throats of many hummingbirds. These colors are produced by interactions between light and organic structures, such that optical effects from the nanoscale arrangement of melanin-containing organelles called melanosomes within bird feather barbules produces color variation. Uniquely to birds, these melanosomes can take four distinct forms: (i) rods (rod-shaped and solid); (ii) hollow rods (rod-shaped and hollow); (iii) platelets (flat and solid); and (iv) hollow platelets (flat and hollow). While their importance for production of colour variation is well explored, how these unusual melanosomes form during feather development in nearly unknown. In the MOlecular and DEvelopmental bases of Iridescent Feathers project (MoDeIF project) I propose a developmental genetics approach to identify developmental and molecular pathways by which melanosomes achieve hollowness and flatness. To explore hollowness, I will test two hypotheses: the phaeomelanin-core hypothesis and the air-filled-core hypothesis. To explore flatness, I will test the hypothesis that the pre-melanosome structural organizational gene Pmel enables the development of flat melanosomes by providing scaffolding for pigment deposition. Comparative transcriptomics and concurrent elucidation of the physical processes via electron microscopy will greatly improve our understanding of the mechanisms of development of these unusual melanosomes. Finally, I will focus on whether melanosome shape and nanostructuring are developmentally constrained for other colors once a species evolves iridescent coloration. Understanding the molecular basis of iridescent feather development is vital for comprehending its evolution. Furthermore, insights into melanosomes' optical packing could inspire innovative synthetic color production techniques.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
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Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-GF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global FellowshipsCoordinator
9000 Gent
Belgium