A mosaic of modular variation at a single gene underpins convergent plumage coloration

Dave Lutgen; Valentina Peona; Madeline Chase; Niloofar Alaei Kakhki; Fritjof Lammers; Stacey G de Souza; Anne-Lyse Ducrest; Marta Burri; Pavlos Andriopoulos; Sifiso M Lukhele; Michaella Moysi; Elizabeth Yohannes; Abdin Abbasov; Tamer Albayrak; Mansour Albayrak; Nicolas Auchli; Vasileios Bontzorlos; Ioulios Christoforou; José Luis Copete; Egidio Fulco; Jesus T Garcia; Zura Javakhishvili; Anna Kazazou; Fumin Lei; Yang Liu; Nika Paposhvili; Robert Patchett; Áron Péter; Raphael Ritter; Attila D Sándor; Fabian Schneider; Petar Shurulinkov; Sergey Sklyarenko; Borut Stumberger; Abulfaz Tagiyev; Alessia Uboldi; Nikitas Vogiatzis; Fanny Taborsak-Lines; Joel Gruselius; Liqun Yao; Catherine L Peichel; Alexander Suh; Pierre-Alexandre  Gagnaire; Alexander N G Kirschel; Manuel Schweizer; Holger  Schielzeth; Reto Burri

doi:10.1126/science.ado8005

A mosaic of modular variation at a single gene underpins convergent plumage coloration

Dave Lutgen
, Valentina Peona
, Madeline Chase
, Niloofar Alaei Kakhki
, Fritjof Lammers
, Stacey G de Souza
, Anne-Lyse Ducrest
, Marta Burri
, Pavlos Andriopoulos
, Sifiso M Lukhele
, Michaella Moysi
, Elizabeth Yohannes
, Abdin Abbasov
, Tamer Albayrak
, Mansour Albayrak
, Nicolas Auchli
, Vasileios Bontzorlos
, Ioulios Christoforou
, José Luis Copete
, Egidio Fulco

Jesus T Garcia, Zura Javakhishvili, Anna Kazazou, Fumin Lei, Yang Liu, Nika Paposhvili, Robert Patchett, Áron Péter, Raphael Ritter, Attila D Sándor, Fabian Schneider, Petar Shurulinkov, Sergey Sklyarenko, Borut Stumberger, Abulfaz Tagiyev, Alessia Uboldi, Nikitas Vogiatzis, Fanny Taborsak-Lines, Joel Gruselius, Liqun Yao, Catherine L Peichel, Alexander Suh, Pierre-Alexandre Gagnaire, Alexander N G Kirschel, Manuel Schweizer, Holger Schielzeth, Reto Burri^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Biology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The reshuffling of genomic variation from multiple origins is an important contributor to phenotypic diversification, yet insights into the evolutionary trajectories of this combinatorial process and their interplay with genetic architecture remain scarce. We show that convergent plumage color evolution in wheatears involves a monogenic architecture with modular variation introgressed at the agouti signaling protein (ASIP) locus. Introgression of a new transposable element insertion and linked protein-coding variation underpin a transspecific throat color polymorphism, which stable isotopes suggest is associated with alternative foraging niches. Cointrogression of linked regulatory ASIP variation resulted in mantle color convergence in one species, whereas convergent color evolution at the genus level required new variation. Our results demonstrate evolutionary trajectories from introgressed variation realized within the constraints of a monogenic architecture.

Original language	English
Article number	eado8005
Pages (from-to)	1-19
Number of pages	19
Journal	Science
Volume	390
Issue number	6770
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ado8005
Publication status	Published - 16 Oct 2025

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Copyright © 2025 the Author. This work has been made available online in accordance with the University of St Andrews Open Access policy. This accepted manuscript is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ado8005.
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Lutgen, D., Peona, V., Chase, M., Kakhki, N. A., Lammers, F., de Souza, S. G., Ducrest, A.-L., Burri, M., Andriopoulos, P., Lukhele, S. M., Moysi, M., Yohannes, E., Abbasov, A., Albayrak, T., Albayrak, M., Auchli, N., Bontzorlos, V., Christoforou, I., Copete, J. L., ... Burri, R. (2025). A mosaic of modular variation at a single gene underpins convergent plumage coloration. Science, 390(6770), 1-19. Article eado8005. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ado8005

@article{99d900ca531e47d5bcdae5072fcfef7b,

title = "A mosaic of modular variation at a single gene underpins convergent plumage coloration",

abstract = "The reshuffling of genomic variation from multiple origins is an important contributor to phenotypic diversification, yet insights into the evolutionary trajectories of this combinatorial process and their interplay with genetic architecture remain scarce. We show that convergent plumage color evolution in wheatears involves a monogenic architecture with modular variation introgressed at the agouti signaling protein (ASIP) locus. Introgression of a new transposable element insertion and linked protein-coding variation underpin a transspecific throat color polymorphism, which stable isotopes suggest is associated with alternative foraging niches. Cointrogression of linked regulatory ASIP variation resulted in mantle color convergence in one species, whereas convergent color evolution at the genus level required new variation. Our results demonstrate evolutionary trajectories from introgressed variation realized within the constraints of a monogenic architecture.",

author = "Dave Lutgen and Valentina Peona and Madeline Chase and Kakhki, \{Niloofar Alaei\} and Fritjof Lammers and \{de Souza\}, \{Stacey G\} and Anne-Lyse Ducrest and Marta Burri and Pavlos Andriopoulos and Lukhele, \{Sifiso M\} and Michaella Moysi and Elizabeth Yohannes and Abdin Abbasov and Tamer Albayrak and Mansour Albayrak and Nicolas Auchli and Vasileios Bontzorlos and Ioulios Christoforou and Copete, \{Jos{\'e} Luis\} and Egidio Fulco and Garcia, \{Jesus T\} and Zura Javakhishvili and Anna Kazazou and Fumin Lei and Yang Liu and Nika Paposhvili and Robert Patchett and {\'A}ron P{\'e}ter and Raphael Ritter and S{\'a}ndor, \{Attila D\} and Fabian Schneider and Petar Shurulinkov and Sergey Sklyarenko and Borut Stumberger and Abulfaz Tagiyev and Alessia Uboldi and Nikitas Vogiatzis and Fanny Taborsak-Lines and Joel Gruselius and Liqun Yao and Peichel, \{Catherine L\} and Alexander Suh and Pierre-Alexandre Gagnaire and Kirschel, \{Alexander N G\} and Manuel Schweizer and Holger Schielzeth and Reto Burri",

note = "Funding: This research was supported by German Research Foundation (DFG) research grant BU3456/3-1 and Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) grant 310030\_207417 to R.B., National Research Fund (FNR) Luxembourg grant 14575729 to D.L., an A.G. Leventis Foundation Grant to A.N.G.K., a Georg Foster Research Stipend of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and a scholarship for female researchers from Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena to N.A.K., and a Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsr{\aa}det) grant 2022-06195 to V.P.",

year = "2025",

month = oct,

day = "16",

doi = "10.1126/science.ado8005",

language = "English",

volume = "390",

pages = "1--19",

journal = "Science",

issn = "1095-9203",

publisher = "American Association for the Advancement of Science",

number = "6770",

}

Lutgen, D, Peona, V, Chase, M, Kakhki, NA, Lammers, F, de Souza, SG, Ducrest, A-L, Burri, M, Andriopoulos, P, Lukhele, SM, Moysi, M, Yohannes, E, Abbasov, A, Albayrak, T, Albayrak, M, Auchli, N, Bontzorlos, V, Christoforou, I, Copete, JL, Fulco, E, Garcia, JT, Javakhishvili, Z, Kazazou, A, Lei, F, Liu, Y, Paposhvili, N, Patchett, R, Péter, Á, Ritter, R, Sándor, AD, Schneider, F, Shurulinkov, P, Sklyarenko, S, Stumberger, B, Tagiyev, A, Uboldi, A, Vogiatzis, N, Taborsak-Lines, F, Gruselius, J, Yao, L, Peichel, CL, Suh, A, Gagnaire, P-A, Kirschel, ANG, Schweizer, M, Schielzeth, H & Burri, R 2025, 'A mosaic of modular variation at a single gene underpins convergent plumage coloration', Science, vol. 390, no. 6770, eado8005, pp. 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ado8005

TY - JOUR

T1 - A mosaic of modular variation at a single gene underpins convergent plumage coloration

AU - Lutgen, Dave

AU - Peona, Valentina

AU - Chase, Madeline

AU - Kakhki, Niloofar Alaei

AU - Lammers, Fritjof

AU - de Souza, Stacey G

AU - Ducrest, Anne-Lyse

AU - Burri, Marta

AU - Andriopoulos, Pavlos

AU - Lukhele, Sifiso M

AU - Moysi, Michaella

AU - Yohannes, Elizabeth

AU - Abbasov, Abdin

AU - Albayrak, Tamer

AU - Albayrak, Mansour

AU - Auchli, Nicolas

AU - Bontzorlos, Vasileios

AU - Christoforou, Ioulios

AU - Copete, José Luis

AU - Fulco, Egidio

AU - Garcia, Jesus T

AU - Javakhishvili, Zura

AU - Kazazou, Anna

AU - Lei, Fumin

AU - Liu, Yang

AU - Paposhvili, Nika

AU - Patchett, Robert

AU - Péter, Áron

AU - Ritter, Raphael

AU - Sándor, Attila D

AU - Schneider, Fabian

AU - Shurulinkov, Petar

AU - Sklyarenko, Sergey

AU - Stumberger, Borut

AU - Tagiyev, Abulfaz

AU - Uboldi, Alessia

AU - Vogiatzis, Nikitas

AU - Taborsak-Lines, Fanny

AU - Gruselius, Joel

AU - Yao, Liqun

AU - Peichel, Catherine L

AU - Suh, Alexander

AU - Gagnaire, Pierre-Alexandre

AU - Kirschel, Alexander N G

AU - Schweizer, Manuel

AU - Schielzeth, Holger

AU - Burri, Reto

N1 - Funding: This research was supported by German Research Foundation (DFG) research grant BU3456/3-1 and Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) grant 310030_207417 to R.B., National Research Fund (FNR) Luxembourg grant 14575729 to D.L., an A.G. Leventis Foundation Grant to A.N.G.K., a Georg Foster Research Stipend of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and a scholarship for female researchers from Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena to N.A.K., and a Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet) grant 2022-06195 to V.P.

PY - 2025/10/16

Y1 - 2025/10/16

N2 - The reshuffling of genomic variation from multiple origins is an important contributor to phenotypic diversification, yet insights into the evolutionary trajectories of this combinatorial process and their interplay with genetic architecture remain scarce. We show that convergent plumage color evolution in wheatears involves a monogenic architecture with modular variation introgressed at the agouti signaling protein (ASIP) locus. Introgression of a new transposable element insertion and linked protein-coding variation underpin a transspecific throat color polymorphism, which stable isotopes suggest is associated with alternative foraging niches. Cointrogression of linked regulatory ASIP variation resulted in mantle color convergence in one species, whereas convergent color evolution at the genus level required new variation. Our results demonstrate evolutionary trajectories from introgressed variation realized within the constraints of a monogenic architecture.

AB - The reshuffling of genomic variation from multiple origins is an important contributor to phenotypic diversification, yet insights into the evolutionary trajectories of this combinatorial process and their interplay with genetic architecture remain scarce. We show that convergent plumage color evolution in wheatears involves a monogenic architecture with modular variation introgressed at the agouti signaling protein (ASIP) locus. Introgression of a new transposable element insertion and linked protein-coding variation underpin a transspecific throat color polymorphism, which stable isotopes suggest is associated with alternative foraging niches. Cointrogression of linked regulatory ASIP variation resulted in mantle color convergence in one species, whereas convergent color evolution at the genus level required new variation. Our results demonstrate evolutionary trajectories from introgressed variation realized within the constraints of a monogenic architecture.

U2 - 10.1126/science.ado8005

DO - 10.1126/science.ado8005

M3 - Article

SN - 1095-9203

VL - 390

SP - 1

EP - 19

JO - Science

JF - Science

IS - 6770

M1 - eado8005

ER -

A mosaic of modular variation at a single gene underpins convergent plumage coloration

Abstract

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