ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2009
The expression of melanin-based plumage is separately modulated by exogenous oxidative stress and a melanocortin.
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
34 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 146 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Replicated urban mosaics reveal trait- and species-specific shifts in carotenoid and structural plumage colouration of two passerines.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- The Impairment of Body Condition Transiently Increases Oxidative Stress: A Dietary Restriction Experiment in Partridges.Journal of experimental zoology. Part A, Ecological and integrative physiology · 2025Article
- Canalised and plastic components of melanin-based colouration: a diet-manipulation experiment in house sparrows.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Oxidative physiology is weakly associated with pigmentation in birds.Ecology and evolution · 2022Article
- Molecular parallelism in signaling function across different sexually selected ornaments in a warbler.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- Melanin, the What, the Why and the How: An Introductory Review for Materials Scientists Interested in Flexible and Versatile Polymers.Polymers · 2021Review
- Proteomic Analysis ofFrontiers in microbiology · 2020Article
- Article
- The fractal dimension of a conspicuous ornament varies with mating status and shows assortative mating in wild red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa).Die Naturwissenschaften · 2018Article
- Tyrosinase Inhibitory and Anti-oxidative Effects of Lactic Acid Bacteria Isolated from Dairy Cow Feces.Probiotics and antimicrobial proteins · 2018Article
- Condition-dependence of pheomelanin-based coloration in nuthatches Sitta europaea suggests a detoxifying function: implications for the evolution of juvenile plumage patterns.Scientific reports · 2017Article
- Trade-off between carotenoid-based sexual ornamentation and sperm resistance to oxidative challenge.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2017Article
- Ageing and the cost of maintaining coloration in the Australian painted dragon.Biology letters · 2016Article
- Bird Integumentary Melanins: Biosynthesis, Forms, Function and Evolution.International journal of molecular sciences · 2016Review
- Article
- Coloured ornamental traits could be effective and non-invasive indicators of pollution exposure for wildlife.Conservation physiology · 2016Review
- Disruptive viability selection on a black plumage trait associated with dominance.Journal of evolutionary biology · 2015Article
- Nest-dwelling ectoparasites reduce antioxidant defences in females and nestlings of a passerine: a field experiment.Oecologia · 2015Article
- Low-quality birds do not display high-quality signals: The cysteine-pheomelanin mechanism of honesty.Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Melanin-based traits involved in animal communication have been traditionally viewed as occurring under strict genetic control. However, it is generally accepted that both genetic and environmental factors influence melanin production. Medical studies suggest that, among environmental factors influencing melanization, oxidative stress could play a relevant role. On the other hand, genetic control would be exerted by the melanocortin system, and particularly by the alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH), which triggers the production of eumelanins (black pigments). To determine how the melanocortin system and an exogenous source of oxidative stress interact in the expression of melanin-based plumage, developing red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa) were manipulated. Some partridges were injected with alpha-MSH, while other birds received a pro-oxidant molecule (diquat) in drinking water. Controls and birds receiving both treatments were also studied. Both alpha-MSH- and diquat-treated individuals presented larger eumelanin-based traits than controls, but alpha-MSH+diquat-treated birds showed the largest traits, suggesting that oxidative stress and melanocortins promote additive but independent effects. Diquat also induced a decline in the level of a key intracellular antioxidant (glutathione), which is associated with high expression of eumelanin-based signals in other bird species. Some scenarios for the evolution of melanin-based traits in relation to oxidative stress are proposed.
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Registered trials
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