What makes a pretty pigeon? Scientists identify genes for feather colors.

A new study sheds light on the mutations that control the color variations among rock pigeons.

The next time you spot a red pigeon, don't worry. It probably wasn't spray-painted. It's in the bird's genes.

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In a paper titled"Epistatic and Combinatorial Effects of Pigmentary Gene Mutations in the Domestic Pigeon"published this week in the journal Current Biology, a group of researchers from University of Utah say they have managed to crack the genetic code behind color variations among pigeons. The researchers identified mutations in three key genes Tyrp1, Sox10, and Slc45a2 that determine feather color in domestic rock pigeons.

"We were interested in understanding DNA level changes that give birth to specific traits among pigeons like, color of feathers," Michael Shapiro, associate professor of biology and senior author of the study told the Monitor.

The Tyrp1 gene produces an enzyme responsible for the synthesis of melanin and different forms of this gene that make pigeons blue-black (the grayish color of common city pigeons), ash-red, and brown, Dr. Shapiro said.

And mutations in another gene, named Sox10, make pigeons red irrespective of what other genes do. When Sox10, a recessive gene, mutates, it suppresses the Tyrp1gene, resulting in a bird with a really rich red color, he adds.

"You drop the baton and the orchestra doesn't play, " he says. "That is exactly what mutation in Sox10 does."

Sox10 is an example of an epistatic gene, one that obscures the effects of another gene.

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What makes a pretty pigeon? Scientists identify genes for feather colors.