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The persistence of intrapopulation phenotypic variation typically requires some form of balancing selection because drift and directional selection eventually erode genetic variation. Heterozygote advantage remains a classic explanation for the maintenance of genetic variation in the face of selection. However, examples of heterozygote advantage, other than those associated with disease resistance, are rather uncommon. Across most of its distribution, males of the aposematic moth Arctia plantaginis have two hindwing phenotypes determined by a heritable one locus-two allele polymorphism (genotypes: WW/Wy = white morph, yy = yellow morph). Using genotyped moths, we show that the presence of one or two copies of the yellow allele affects several life-history traits. Reproductive output of both males and females and female mating success are negatively affected by two copies of the yellow allele. Females carrying one yellow allele (i.e., Wy) have higher fertility, hatching success, and offspring survival than either homozygote, thus leading to strong heterozygote advantage. Our results indicate strong female contribution especially at the postcopulatory stage in maintaining the color polymorphism. The interplay between heterozygote advantage, yellow allele pleiotropic effect, and morph-specific predation pressure may exert balancing selection on the color locus, suggesting that color polymorphism may be maintained through complex interactions between natural and sexual selection.

Genotyping studies are increasing the knowledge on grapevine biodiversity, particularly regarding grape berry skin color somatic variants, supporting the research on the color trait. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the berry color locus, and its surrounding genomic region, on the color variation of the Portuguese white-skinned cultivars ‘Fernão Pires’ and ‘Verdelho’ and its derived red-berried somatic variants cv. ‘Fernão Pires Rosado’ and cv. ‘Verdelho Roxo’, respectively. The analysis of Gret1 insertion within the VvMYBA1 gene revealed no polymorphism responsible for white-to-red shift of the red-skinned cv. ‘Fernão Pires Rosado’ and cv. ‘Verdelho Roxo’. Moreover, VvMYBA2 showed an important role regarding the phenotypic variation of cv. ‘Fernão Pires’, through the recovery of the functional allele G on cv. ‘Fernão Pires Rosado’. Regarding the data obtained for cv. ‘Verdelho’ and cv. ‘Verdelho Roxo’, both cultivars showed Gret1 insertion on VvMYBA1 and non-functional T allele on VvMYBA2 in homozygosity for both cell layers of shoot apical meristem, suggesting the occurrence of other mutational events responsible for the color gain.

Genotyping studies are increasing the knowledge on grapevine biodiversity, particularly regarding grape berry skin color somatic variants, supporting the research on the color trait. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the berry color locus, and its surrounding genomic region, on the color variation of the Portuguese white-skinned cultivars ‘Fernão Pires’ and ‘Verdelho’ and its derived red-berried somatic variants cv. ‘Fernão Pires Rosado’ and cv. ‘Verdelho Roxo’, respectively. The analysis of Gret1 insertion within the VvMYBA1 gene revealed no polymorphism responsible for white-to-red shift of the red-skinned cv. ‘Fernão Pires Rosado’ and cv. ‘Verdelho Roxo’. Moreover, VvMYBA2 showed an important role regarding the phenotypic variation of cv. ‘Fernão Pires’, through the recovery of the functional allele G on cv. ‘Fernão Pires Rosado’. Regarding the data obtained for cv. ‘Verdelho’ and cv. ‘Verdelho Roxo’, both cultivars showed Gret1 insertion on VvMYBA1 and non-functional T allele on VvMYBA2 in homozygosity for both cell layers of shoot apical meristem, suggesting the occurrence of other mutational events responsible for the color gain. Os estudos de genotipagem têm contribuído para o aumento do conhecimento acerca da biodiversidade de videira, em particular no que se refere a variantes somáticos para a cor do bago, cimentando a investigação sobre a caraterística da cor. Este estudo teve como objetivo avaliar o efeito do locus da cor do bago e região genómica adjacente na variação da cor de cultivares portuguesas de cor branca, ‘Fernão Pires’ e ‘Verdelho’, e os seus variantes somáticos rosados, cv. ‘Fernão Pires Rosado’ e cv. ‘Verdelho Roxo’, respetivamente. A análise da inserção do retransposão Gret1 no gene VvMYBA1 não revelou nenhum polimorfismo responsável pela alteração de cor branca para rosada nos cultivares ‘Fernão Pires Rosado’ e ‘Verdelho Roxo’. Além disso, o gene VvMYBA2 revelou possuir um papel importante relativamente à variação fenotípica no cultivar ‘Fernão Pires’, através da recuperação do alelo funcional G no cultivar ‘Fernão Pires Rosado’. Em relação aos dados obtidos para os cultivares ‘Verdelho’ e ‘Verdelho Roxo’, ambos apresentaram a inserção do Gret1 no gene VvMYBA1 e o alelo T não funcional no gene VvMYBA2 em homozigotia para ambas as camadas celulares do meristema apical, o que sugere que a recuperação de cor se deve à ocorrência de outros eventos mutacionais

The present article describes a Bayesian multivariate methodology developed for unsupervised quality control of pizzas based on RGB color attributes. A sensory experiment was done to define the readiness point ground truth. During the validation phase, different pizza samples were baked at a different temperature. The cheese and crust color patterns were statistically compared against the ground truth to check the readiness point. Results show that the proposed methodology presents a good performance demonstrating that color attributes can be used as an unsupervised quality control using traditional statistical methods.

Dark horse colors are generally the most common colors in any breed, and the most common of these are usually referred to as “dark” or “hard” colors. Most observers include bay, black, brown, and chestnut as the “hard colors”. The genetic control of the bay, chestnut, and black colors of horses is the result of interaction at two genetic loci: Agouti and extension. It is possible to build most other horse colors step by step from these three dark colors, so they are a good starting point for discussion of horse color genetics. At least two different subtypes of color occur within the larger bay classification. One of these subtypes is the more common bay in which black on the legs extends up to the knees and hocks or even above them. In the o.

The hypothesis of fetal origins of adult disease posits that early developmental exposures involve epigenetic modifications, such as DNA methylation, that influence adult disease susceptibility. In utero or neonatal exposure to bisphenol A (BPA), a high-production-volume chemical used in the manufacture of polycarbonate plastic, is associated with higher body weight, increased breast and prostate cancer, and altered reproductive function. This study shows that maternal exposure to this endocrine-active compound shifted the coat color distribution of viable yellow agouti (Avy) mouse offspring toward yellow by decreasing CpG (cytosine-guanine dinucleotide) methylation in an intracisternal A particle retrotransposon upstream of the Agouti gene. CpG methylation also was decreased at another metastable locus, the CDK5 activator-binding protein (CabpIAP). DNA methylation at the Avy locus was similar in tissues from the three germ layers, providing evidence that epigenetic patterning during early stem cell development is sensitive to BPA exposure. Moreover, maternal dietary supplementation, with either methyl donors like folic acid or the phytoestrogen genistein, negated the DNA hypomethylating effect of BPA. Thus, we present compelling evidence that early developmental exposure to BPA can change offspring phenotype by stably altering the epigenome, an effect that can be counteracted by maternal dietary supplements.

Many larval color mutants have been obtained in the silkworm Bombyx mori. Mapping of melanin-synthesis genes on the Bombyx linkage map revealed that yellow and ebony genes were located near the chocolate (ch) and sooty (so) loci, respectively. In the ch mutants, body color of neonate larvae and the body markings of elder instar larvae are reddish brown instead of normal black. Mutations at the so locus produce smoky larvae and black pupae. F2 linkage analyses showed that sequence polymorphisms of yellow and ebony genes perfectly cosegregated with the ch and so mutant phenotypes, respectively. Both yellow and ebony were expressed in the epidermis during the molting period when cuticular pigmentation occurred. The spatial expression pattern of yellow transcripts coincided with the larval black markings. In the ch mutants, nonsense mutations of the yellow gene were detected, whereas large deletions of the ebony ORF were detected in the so mutants. These results indicate that yellow and ebony are the responsible genes for the ch and so loci, respectively. Our findings suggest that Yellow promotes melanization, whereas Ebony inhibits melanization in Lepidoptera and that melanin-synthesis enzymes play a critical role in the lepidopteran larval color pattern.

Chlorophylls and carotenoids are synthesized in the chloroplast and chromoplast, respectively. Even though the two pigments are generated from the same precursor, the genetic correlation between chlorophyll and carotenoid biosynthesis has not yet been fully understood. We investigated the genetic correlation of chlorophyll and carotenoid biosynthesis during fruit ripening. Two recombinant inbred lines populations, “Long Sweet” × “AC2212” (“LA”) RILs derived from a cross between Capsicum annuum “Long Sweet” with light-green and light-red fruit and C. annuum “AC2212” with dark-green and brown-fruit and “3501 (F)” × “3509 (C)” (“FC”) RILs from C. annuum “3501” with dark-green and dark-red fruit and C. annuum “3509” with intermediate green and light-red fruit, were used. As the fruit ripened, three accessions produced high levels of xanthophyll. The dark-green immature fruit accumulated more total carotenoids than the light-green fruit. This trend corresponded to the expression pattern of 1-deoxy-d-xylulose 5-phosphate synthase ( DXS ) and CaGLK2 genes during fruit development. The expression levels of DXS and CaGLK2 in the dark-green accession “3501” were significantly higher than those of “3509” and “Long Sweet” during the early stages of fruit development. Furthermore, the genotype analysis of the transcription factor controlling chloroplast development ( CaGLK2 ) in LA RILs revealed that CaGLK2 expression affected both carotenoid and chlorophyll contents. The single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) linkage maps were constructed using genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) for the two populations, and QTL analysis was performed for green fruit color intensity and carotenoid content. The QTL ( LA_BG-CST10 ) for capsanthin content in LA RILs located at 24.4 to 100.4 Mbp on chromosome 10 was overlapped with the QTL ( FC15-Cap10 ) for capsanthin content in FC RILs. Three QTLs for capsanthin content, American spice trade association (ASTA) value, and immature green fruit color intensity were also overlapped from 178.2 to 204 Mbp on chromosome 10. At the location, 151.6 to 165 Mbp on chromosome 8, QTLs ( FC15-tcar8, FC17-ASTA8.1, and FC17-ASTA8.2 ) for total carotenoid content and ASTA value were discovered, and this region contained 2-C-methyl-d-erythritol 4-phosphate cytidylyltransferase ( MCT ), which is involved in the MEP pathway. This result is the first report to show the correlation between carotenoid and chlorophyll biosynthesis in pepper. This research will expand our understanding of the mechanism of the chloroplast-to-chromoplast transition and the development of high pigment pepper varieties.

Blue cone monochromacy (BCM) is an X-linked retinal disorder characterized by low vision, photoaversion, and poor color discrimination. BCM is due to the lack of long-wavelength-sensitive and middle-wavelength-sensitive cone photoreceptor function and caused by mutations in the OPN1LW/OPN1MW gene cluster on Xq28. Here, we investigated the prevalence and the landscape of submicroscopic structural variants (SVs) at single-base resolution in BCM patients. We found that about onethird (n = 73) of the 213 molecularly confirmed BCM families carry an SV, most commonly deletions restricted to the OPN1LW/OPN1MW gene cluster. The structure and precise breakpoints of the SVs were resolved in all but one of the 73 families. Twenty-two families—all from the United States—showed the same SV, and we confirmed a common ancestry of this mutation. In total, 42 distinct SVs were identified, including 40 previously unreported SVs, thereby quadrupling the number of precisely mapped SVs underlying BCM. Notably, there was no “region of overlap” among these SVs. However, 90% of SVs encompass the upstream locus control region, an essential enhancer element. Its minimal functional extent based on deletion mapping in patients was refined to 358 bp. Breakpoint analyses suggest diverse mechanisms underlying SV formation as well as in one case the gene conversionbased exchange of a 142-bp deletion between opsin genes. Using parsimonious assumptions, we reconstructed the composition and copy number of the OPN1LW/OPN1MW gene cluster prior to the mutation event and found evidence that large gene arrays may be predisposed to the occurrence of SVs at this locus.

(-)-Epicatechin (EC), a primary form of flavan-3ol and a building block of proanthocyanidins, has health benefits as it is a potent antioxidant. So far, no quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with EC have yet been identified in soybean. In this study, QTLs for EC and hilum color were identified in recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from the varieties Jinpung and IT109098 using high-resolution single nucleotide polymorphism linkage mapping. This revealed two major QTLs for EC content, qEC06 and qEC08. qEC06 spanned the Tawny (T) locus encoding flavonoid 3′-hydroxylase. qEC08, located near the Inhibitor (I) locus on Chr08, was also a major QTL for hilum color; however, allelic stacking of qEC08 and I revealed no relationship between I and EC content. RILs with IT109098 alleles at both qEC06 and qEC08 had higher EC content than other lines. These results will enable the production of soybean varieties with high EC content via marker-assisted selection.