ArticleCurrent biology : CB2022
A mechanism for red coloration in vertebrates.
Article in Current biology : CB, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers.
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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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Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 70 citations in OpenAlex.
- Zebrafish relatives as models for functional comparative genetics and genomics.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2026Review
- Not All Roads Lead to Red: The Genetics of Sexual Dichromatism in the Northern Cardinal (Cardinals cardinalis).Genome biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Review
- Graded BMP signals modulate yellow and red color in fishes, impacting adult pigment patterns and conspecific shoaling behavior.Current biology : CB · 2026Article
- Iridophore apoptosis mediates socially-regulated developmental color pattern plasticity in an anemonefish.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- Body Coloration Characterization and Proteomic Analysis of Diurnal Color Variation in FarmedAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Consuming your colors: carotenoid and retinol availability affects expression of color related genes in the mimic poison frog (Ranitomeya imitator).BMC genomics · 2025Article
- Graded BMP signals modulate yellow and red color in fishes impacting adult pigment pattern and behavior.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- A colorful legacy of hybridization in wood-warblers includes frequent sharing of carotenoid genes among species and genera.PLoS biology · 2025Article
- Biochemical and Genomic Underpinnings of Carotenoid Colour Variation Across a Hybrid Zone Between South Asian Flameback Woodpeckers.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Bdh1l Gene Expression Is a Potential Molecular Factor in the Evolution of Carotenoid-Based Colour Diversity of Cichlid Fishes.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Effects of homochromatic lights on the physiological responses and morphochromatic traits of scarlet badis, Dario dario (Hamilton, 1822).Fish physiology and biochemistry · 2025Article
- Multiple Pathways to Red Carotenoid Coloration: House Finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) Do Not Use CYP2J19 to Produce Red Plumage.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Potential of Garra rufa as a novel high-temperature resistant model fish: a review on current and future approaches.Zoological letters · 2025Review
- The hybrid history of zebrafish.G3 (Bethesda, Md.) · 2025Article
- Article
- A molecular mechanism for bright color variation in parrots.Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2024Article
- Imaging macular carotenoids and their related proteins in the human retina with confocal resonance Raman and fluorescence microscopy.Experimental eye research · 2024Article
- Primary Cell Culture as a Model System for Evolutionary Molecular Physiology.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Convergent evolution of parrot plumage coloration.PNAS nexus · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
23 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Red coloration is a salient feature of the natural world. Many vertebrates produce red color by converting dietary yellow carotenoids into red ketocarotenoids via an unknown mechanism. Here, we show that two enzymes, cytochrome P450 2J19 (CYP2J19) and 3-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase 1-like (BDH1L), are sufficient to catalyze this conversion. In birds, both enzymes are expressed at the sites of ketocarotenoid biosynthesis (feather follicles and red cone photoreceptors), and genetic evidence implicates these enzymes in yellow/red color variation in feathers. In fish, the homologs of CYP2J19 and BDH1L are required for ketocarotenoid production, and we show that these enzymes are sufficient to produce ketocarotenoids in cell culture and when ectopically expressed in fish skin. Finally, we demonstrate that the red-cone-enriched tetratricopeptide repeat protein 39B (TTC39B) enhances ketocarotenoid production when co-expressed with CYP2J19 and BDH1L. The discovery of this mechanism of ketocarotenoid biosynthesis has major implications for understanding the evolution of color diversity in vertebrates.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.