💁🏻‍♀️ TIL: 🐔🎨 A single MC1R gene acts as a molecular dimmer for feather color, and researchers found 18 variants that combine to create #chickens’ #rainbow of #plumage.

By reading the #genomes of over 10,000 #birds, they traced how these mutations accumulated since #domestication.

👉 https://phys.org/news/2026-06-chickens-gene-reveals-evolution.html

#genetics #evolution #pigmentation #biology #science #dna #leipzig #uppsala #berlin #agriculture #animals #ornithology