The molecular evolution of feathers with direct evidence from fossils.
Pan Y, Zheng W, Sawyer RH, Pennington MW, Zheng X, Wang X, Wang M, Hu L, O'Connor J, Zhao T, Li Z, Schroeter ER, Wu F, Xu X, Zhou Z, Schweitzer MH.
Pan Y, et al.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 Feb 19;116(8):3018-3023. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1815703116. Epub 2019 Jan 28.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019.
PMID: 30692253
Free PMC article.
In extant birds, the unique expression and amino acid composition of proteins in mature feathers have been shown to determine their biomechanical properties, such as hardness, resilience, and plasticity. Here, we provide molecular and ultrastructural evidence that the penn …
In extant birds, the unique expression and amino acid composition of proteins in mature feathers have been shown to determine their biomecha …