Two studies find one gene for red beaks and feathers

A pair of scientific papers has identified the same single gene as the source of red colouring in birds.

The gene makes an enzyme that lets the birds convert yellow pigments, which they eat, into red ones, which are deposited in their feathers or beaks.
Two separate teams made the discovery, by examining the DNA of birds which either gained or lost their redness.
One focussed on a finch which sometimes loses its red beak; the other on a type of canary bred to be entirely red.
Both studies are published in the journal Current Biology.
"Birds cannot synthesise these red pigments endogenously. They have to obtain them from their diet," Dr Miguel Carneiro from the Universidade do Porto, Portugal, told BBC News.
"It was known for a long time that an enzymatic conversion is needed to produce the red pigments. So many groups of geneticists and physiologists, for many decades,read more