A scientist at the University of Utah, who studies evolution, is busy breeding weirdo mutant pigeons with upside-down feathers and venomous man-killing talons.
OK, we made up the part about the venomous talons, but the rest is true:
The experiment suggests that [the gene] EphB2 tells the placode which way is up. In most pigeons, it instructs the feathers to grow down the neck; but the mutation changes the location where EphB2 switches on, effectively turning the feathers upside down and producing a crest.
“They grow the wrong way,” Dr. [Michael] Shapiro said. “They’re even pointing the wrong way in the embryo, before they become feathers.”
Dr. Shapiro came to this conclusion in part because he found that it takes two copies of the mutant gene to reverse the feathers. When the mutation arose, it was passed down invisibly from pigeon to pigeon. Only when two carriers happened to mate did they suddenly produce a crested chick.
Next time you see a crested pigeon, run for your life.
Full story at The New York Times.
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