Pleiotropy in the melanocortin system, coloration and behavioural syndromes.

By A. Ducrest, Laurent Keller, A. Roulin. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 2008

812 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Subfields: Cell Biology, Endocrine and Autonomic Systems, Nutrition and Dietetics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/602274244657329ff81e5792b4d2850ee5395a4a

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Cell Biology

1. N. Jablonski
2. A. Roulin
3. Abel S. Nunez
4. Graham Coop

In Nutrition and Dietetics

1. N. Jablonski
2. G. Chaplin

Citations in the corpus

• Melanin-based coloration predicts aggressiveness and boldness in captive eastern Hermann’s tortoises (2011, background): “Themelanocortin system is implicated inmelanogenesis, raising the possibility that melanin-based coloration may covary with these physiological and behavioural functions (Ducrest et al. 2008; Vercken & Clobert 2008a).”
• The biology of color (2017, background): “If selection favors specific trait combinations, it can generate genetic correlations representing alternative adaptive peaks (22, 23).”
• Behavioral dominance between female color morphs of a Lake Victoria cichlid fish (2009, positive): “Melanocortins underlying the dark pigmentation also influence a wide range of physiological and behavioral traits in vertebrates, including sexual behavior, aggressiveness, the stress response, immune function, and energy homeostasis (for review see Ducrest et al. 2008).”
• Melanin‐based coloration is related to parasite intensity and cellular immune response in an urban free living bird: the feral pigeon Columba livia (2011, result): “In accordance with this hypothesis, pharmacological studies on the melanocortin system have established that melanocortin receptors and ligands are key regulators of immune functions (Ducrest et al. 2008).”
• Ant assemblages have darker and larger members in cold environments (2016, neutral): “Whilst these effects are a direct result of melanin pigmentation, the melanogenesis pathway itself may also influence cold resistance pleiotropically through its effects on energy homeostasis and metabolic rates (Ducrest et al., 2008).”