ArticleNature communications2024
Conserved regulatory switches for the transition from natal down to juvenile feather in birds.
Article in Nature communications, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- The Genetic Basis of Elongated Tails in Birds: Evidence for Sexual Selection as a Driver of Convergent Evolution.Integrative zoology · 2026Article
- Hierarchical Gene Cluster Regulation Across Vertebrate Skins: Developmental Control of Keratin Gene Expression.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Novel tissue mechanics-guided cellular flows drive the formation of feather follicles.The EMBO journal · 2026Article
- Design of Knitted Fabrics with Biomimetic Bird Feather Hierarchical Structures for Thermal and Moisture Adaptation in Outdoor Environments for the Elderly.Biomimetics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Identification of Smmhc-expressing mesenchymal cells in orofacial bone at single-cell resolution.Bone research · 2026Article
- The Genetic and Morphological Basis of Local Adaptation to Elevational Extremes in an Alpine Finch.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Sexually dimorphic sail feathers in the Mandarin duck as a model for lifelong developmental modulation.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Genetic assessment and Identification of genes related to characterization of Guangdong local goose breeds based on modern and historical genomes.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Cyclic renewal in three ectodermal appendage follicles: Hairs, feathers and teeth.Developmental biology · 2025Review
- Organizational principles of integumentary organs: Maximizing variations for effective adaptation.Developmental biology · 2025Review
- Molecular insights into region-specific sexual dichromatism: Comparative transcriptome analysis of red cheek pigmentation in zebra finches.PLoS genetics · 2025Article
- Skin regional specification and higher-orderScience advances · 2025Article
- Mitochondrial PGAM5 modulates methionine metabolism and feather follicle development by targeting Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway in broiler chickens.Journal of animal science and biotechnology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
- Update of
Authors and funding
15 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The transition from natal downs for heat conservation to juvenile feathers for simple flight is a remarkable environmental adaptation process in avian evolution. However, the underlying epigenetic mechanism for this primary feather transition is mostly unknown. Here we conducted time-ordered gene co-expression network construction, epigenetic analysis, and functional perturbations in developing feather follicles to elucidate four downy-juvenile feather transition events. We report that extracellular matrix reorganization leads to peripheral pulp formation, which mediates epithelial-mesenchymal interactions for branching morphogenesis. α-SMA (ACTA2) compartmentalizes dermal papilla stem cells for feather renewal cycling. LEF1 works as a key hub of Wnt signaling to build rachis and converts radial downy to bilateral symmetry. Novel usage of scale keratins strengthens feather sheath with SOX14 as the epigenetic regulator. We show that this primary feather transition is largely conserved in chicken (precocial) and zebra finch (altricial) and discuss the possibility that this evolutionary adaptation process started in feathered dinosaurs.
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