Dryad
Published August 31, 2020 | Version v1
Dataset Open

Data from: Testosterone regulates CYP2J19-linked carotenoid signal expression in male red-backed fairywrens (Malurus melanocephalus)

Creators

  • 1. Tulane University
  • 2. Cornell University
  • 3. Arizona State University
  • 4. Washington State University

Description

Carotenoid pigments produce most red, orange, and yellow colours in vertebrates. This coloration can serve as an honest signal of quality that mediates social and mating interactions, but our understanding of the underlying mechanisms that control carotenoid signal production, including how different physiological pathways interact to shape and maintain these signals, remains incomplete. We investigated the role of testosterone in mediating gene expression associated with a red plumage sexual signal in red-backed fairywrens (Malurus melanocephalus). In this species, males within a single population can flexibly produce either red/black nuptial plumage or female-like brown plumage. Combining correlational analyses with a field-based testosterone implant experiment and qPCR, we show that testosterone mediates expression of carotenoid-based plumage in part by regulating expression of CYP2J19, a ketolase gene associated with ketocarotenoid metabolism and pigmentation in birds. This is the first time that hormonal regulation of a specific genetic locus has been linked to carotenoid production in a natural context, revealing how endocrine mechanisms produce sexual signals that shape reproductive success.

Notes

The first data set "Khalil_etal_2020_HPLC_data.csv" is the circulating carotenoid data from the High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) Analysis. This data was used for the circulating kecarotenoid model.

The data set consists of (in this order):

  • Year of sample collection
  • Sample number
  • Day of sample collection
  • ABBBS number – metal band number, a unique identifier
  • Color bands – color band combination, another unique identifier, and the one used in the model for the random effect
  • Sex
  • Age - those with a "+" were of minimum age, since they are considered at least that age.       Those without a "+" are of known age.
  • Age_min – same information as age, but without the "+" to be used in analysis. When running the model with only known age birds (Table S1), we filtered out individuals that had a "+" in the Age column.
  • The next six columns are the circulating carotenoids -ador (alpha-doradexanthin), asta (astaxanthin), lut (lutein), adoni (adonirubin), zea (zeaxanthin), and canth (canthaxanthin).
  • Breeding_phenotype – the breeding phenotype (as of November 1st) used for the analysis. F is female, DM is unornamented male, and BM is ornamented male.

 

The second data set "Khalil_etal_2020_qpcr_data.xlsx" is the qPCR ct data from the CYP2J19 and GAPDH expression analysis. This data was used to calculate log fold change using the delta-delta ct method described in text.

The data set consists of three sheets:

1) gapdh_ct – this is the ct data using the GAPDH primers. This includes

  • The well the sample was in
  • The cq
  • The sample number
  • The phenotype of the sample. F is female, T-DM is testosterone-implanted unornamented male, DM is control unornamented male, and BM is ornamented male.
  • The average GAPDH ct, calculated from the cq column as each sample was run in triplicate

2) cyp2j19_ct – this is the ct data using the CYP2J19 primers. This includes the same type of information as the gapdh_ct sheet

3) delta_delta_ct_math – this is all the math to calculate the log fold change using the delta delta ct method. This includes:

  • The sample number
  • The phenotype
  • If the control unornamented male (DM) had a sham implant or no implant
  • The average GAPDH ct from sheet 1
  • The average CYP2J19 cqtfrom sheet 2
  • The delta ct (CYP2J19 ct – GAPDH ct)
  • The average delta ct for females. This is used as our "calibrator" sample, as described in the supplementary methods
  • Delta delta ct (delta ct – average female delta ct)
  • Fold change (2^delta delta ct)
  • Log fold change. This value is used in the ANOVA and in figures.

4) Intra-assay CV - this is the math for how intra-assay coefficient of variation for the GAPDH and CYP2J19 qPCR assays

 

Funding provided by: National Science Foundation
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000001
Award Number: IOS-1354133, IRES-1460048

Funding provided by: Tulane University Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology*
Crossref Funder Registry ID:
Award Number:

Funding provided by: Tulane University Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Crossref Funder Registry ID:

Files

Khalil_etal_2020_HPLC_data.csv

Files (33.7 kB)

Name Size Download all
md5:9725566a7c73b72d43b37654b22b8e91
12.5 kB Preview Download
md5:4238ca4e8549999e4bb43c03b4c385df
21.1 kB Download

Additional details

Related works

Is cited by
10.1098/rspb.2020.1687 (DOI)