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Journal of Heredity Advance Access originally published online on June 29, 2007
Journal of Heredity 2007 98(4):287-292; doi:10.1093/jhered/esm030
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© The American Genetic Association. 2007. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

The Genetic Basis of the Plumage Polymorphism in Red-Footed Boobies (Sula sula): a Melanocortin-1 Receptor (MC1R) Analysis

Patricia C. Baião, EA Schreiber, and Patricia G. Parker

From the Department of Biology, University of Missouri—St Louis, One University Boulevard, R223, St Louis, MO 63121 (Baião and Parker); the Pelican Springs Lodge, 122 Jump Cove Road, Weaverville, NC 28787 (Schreiber); and the Saint Louis Zoo, 1 Government Drive, St Louis, MO 63110 (Parker)

Address correspondence to P. C. Baião at the address above, or e-mail: pccg24{at}umsl.edu.

The red-footed booby (Sula sula) is considered one of the most polymorphic seabirds, with 3 recognized major adult plumage types: 1) white, 2) white-tailed brown, and 3) brown and several degrees of intermediates. Here we show that the white/melanic polymorphism observed in this species is perfectly associated with 2 point substitutions, Val85Met and His207Arg, at the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) gene. Among the melanic plumage variants, we also found a strong association between the degree of melanism and the number of copies of variant MC1R alleles. Furthermore, the Val85Met point substitution has been previously shown to be associated with melanic phenotypes in the lesser snow goose (Anser c. caerulescens), suggesting parallel evolution of the melanic allele, and hence, melanism, between these 2 distantly related species. We also compared the MC1R locus in red-footed boobies with a nonpolymorphic congener, the Nazca booby (Sula granti), in which all adults are white. We found that Nazca boobies present the same genotype at sites 85 and 207 as white morph red-footed boobies.

Corresponding Editor: Susan Lamont

Received September 26, 2006
Accepted March 2, 2007


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