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Black Palm Squirrel (Funambulus palmarum Linn.) from India: Association with a Frame Shift Mutation in the MC1R Gene


Affiliations
1 Indriyam Biologics Private Limited, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram 695 001, India
2 Department of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram 695 581, India
3 OmicsGen Life Sciences Pvt Ltd, Cochin 682 301, India
4 Zoological Garden, Thiruvananthapuram 695 033, India
5 Department of Animal Sciences, Central University of Kerala, Kasaragod 671 316, India
6 Department of Zoology, Fatima Mata National College, Kollam 691 001, India
7 Department of Biotechnology, National College (Autonomous), Tiruchirappalli 620 001, India
8 St Stephen’s College, Pathanapuram 689 695, India
 

This study shows that the dominant mutation of Extension locus in the recessive locus of the agouti Indian three-striped palm squirrel results in constituting an active or hyperactive receptor. This is not inhibited by the agouti antagonist or agouti signalling protein, resulting in melanism. To the best of our knowledge, there is no earlier report of a melanic variant (black) of a three-striped palm squirrel (Funambulus palmarum Linn.) from India. The colour change is due to mutation and is traced to melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) gene, where it is proved to be a sequence alteration causing a frame shift in the Extension locus of the wild type. This would have probably caused the constitutive activation of MC1R.

Keywords

Agouti Signalling Protein, Dominant Mutation, Funambulus palmarum, Melanism, Melanocortin-1 Receptor.
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  • Black Palm Squirrel (Funambulus palmarum Linn.) from India: Association with a Frame Shift Mutation in the MC1R Gene

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Authors

R. Dileepkumar
Indriyam Biologics Private Limited, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram 695 001, India
K. Anaswara
Indriyam Biologics Private Limited, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram 695 001, India
V. Navya
Department of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram 695 581, India
S. Beena
OmicsGen Life Sciences Pvt Ltd, Cochin 682 301, India
A. Jacob
Zoological Garden, Thiruvananthapuram 695 033, India
L. Divya
Department of Animal Sciences, Central University of Kerala, Kasaragod 671 316, India
A. S. Vijayasree
Department of Zoology, Fatima Mata National College, Kollam 691 001, India
V. Deepthi
Department of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram 695 581, India
G. Renganayaki
Department of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram 695 581, India
P. R. Shidhi
Department of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram 695 581, India
M. A. Akbarsha
Department of Biotechnology, National College (Autonomous), Tiruchirappalli 620 001, India
K. P. Laladhas
St Stephen’s College, Pathanapuram 689 695, India
Achuthsankar S. Nair
Department of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram 695 581, India
P. R. Sudhakaran
Department of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram 695 581, India
O. V. Oommen
Department of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram 695 581, India

Abstract


This study shows that the dominant mutation of Extension locus in the recessive locus of the agouti Indian three-striped palm squirrel results in constituting an active or hyperactive receptor. This is not inhibited by the agouti antagonist or agouti signalling protein, resulting in melanism. To the best of our knowledge, there is no earlier report of a melanic variant (black) of a three-striped palm squirrel (Funambulus palmarum Linn.) from India. The colour change is due to mutation and is traced to melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) gene, where it is proved to be a sequence alteration causing a frame shift in the Extension locus of the wild type. This would have probably caused the constitutive activation of MC1R.

Keywords


Agouti Signalling Protein, Dominant Mutation, Funambulus palmarum, Melanism, Melanocortin-1 Receptor.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv121%2Fi2%2F306-312