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Allelic Evolution: The Rose-Comb Story

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Lessons learnt
Allelic evolution
Allelic evolution is a phenomenon geneticists are becoming ever more aware of as improved sequencing methods enable more, and more detailed, studies of various animals. Allelic series can not only come about when multiple alleles of different origin are found at one locus, but also when an allele with a variant causing a phenotype subsequently gains a second variant at the same locus that modifies the original phenotype. This process of allelic modification can then repeat itself, with loci diversifying into variable complex allelic series. Humans' interest in the unusual when it comes to their domestic animals can lead to maintenance of multiple variants with differing effects at one locus. This can enable …show more content…

The Rose-comb story shows how structural rearrangements can lead to considerable phenotypic change, providing raw material for evolutionary selection, and how pleiotropic effects can be an issue when selection, be it natural or artificial, favours certain traits. The rearrangement of the R1 allele into the R2 allele is a good illustration of how a non-tandem duplication can occur. It also enables experimental validation of separate causality for both altered comb shape and reduced rooster …show more content…

Somatic loss or inactivation of the Grey duplication results in reinstatement of normal pigmentation, commonly seen in the freckling of Flea-bitten Greys, and less commonly in larger patches that are established during embryogenesis. These latter patches are often known as blood marks, from their appearance in Grey Arabians, where the base colour of the horse is generally either Bay or Chestnut, resulting in a largely phaeomelanic patch. The other change, investigated in Paper II, is somatic expansion of the duplication, which can lead to aggressiveness in melanomas, and thereby reduced survival of the individual.
Another aspect of potential allelic evolution with regards to Grey is if the slowness of Greying in the Slow Greying Connemaras is indeed in linkage with Grey, a causative variant could potentially be discovered. The question is, is the slow rate of Greying an acquired feature for the phenotype, or is this rate of Greying the original, with faster Greying having subsequently been selected

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