Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2000 Aug;10(4):449-56.
doi: 10.1016/s0959-437x(00)00111-8.

Evo-devo of feathers and scales: building complex epithelial appendages

C M Chuong  1 , R Chodankar, R B Widelitz, T X Jiang
Affiliations
Review

Evo-devo of feathers and scales: building complex epithelial appendages

C M Chuong et al. Curr Opin Genet Dev. 2000 Aug.
No abstract available

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Morphology of scales and feathers: (a) reptile scales; (b) avian foot scales; and (c) avian feathers. Avian reticulate scales are similar in shape to reptile tuberculate scales. Avian scutate and scutella scales are similar in shape to reptile overlapping scales. None of the scales form follicles. In feathers, (i) down feathers have radially symmetric barbs, (ii) contour feathers have bilaterally symmetric vanes, while flight feathers (iii) have bilaterally asymmetric vanes. From (i) to (iii), there is a gradual increase in morphological complexity, reflecting the order of appearance during development. ([c] i–iii are from [2••], with permission.)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Developmental processes during feather formation. Development of different skin appendages share induction, morphogenesis, differentiation and cycling stages [53]. The distinct feather structures have provided an excellent model for the study of induction and morphogenesis. (a) Induction stage. (b–d) Three sub-stages of morphogenesis. In (a), the femoral tract in the bird is marked by a rectangle and shown schematically in the right-hand panels. One individual feather primordium is further illustrated in (b). The cross sections of feather filaments are shown (c,d). The open curved arrows in (c,d) indicate the sequential appearance of barb ridges. R, rachis; B, barb plate; M, marginal plate; A, anterior; P, posterior; BuG2, bud growth zone. At the right corner are feathers that would form through that process. (The schematic of feather tracts in [a] is reproduced from [5] with permission.)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Landmann L. The skin of reptiles: epidermis and dermis. In: Bereiter-Hahn J, Matoltsy AG, Richards S, editors. Biology of the Integument. New York: Springer-Verlag; 1984. pp. 150–187.
    1. Lucas AM, Stettenheim PR. Agriculture Handbook. Vol. 362. Agricultural Research Services. US Department of Agriculture; Washington, DC: 1972. Avian anatomy: integument; pp. 1–750. An excellent factual book with beautiful illustrations; it inspires us to wonder how molecules are used to form those complex morphologies — micro-and nano-structures.
    1. Sawyer RH, Goetinck PF. Developmental genetics of the integument and limbs of the domestic chicken. In: Malacinski GM, Bryant SV, editors. Pattern Formation. New York: Macmillian; 1984. pp. 581–601.
    1. Tanaka S, Kato Y. Epigenesis in developing avian scales. I. and II. J Expt Zool. 1983;225:257–283. Using 3H thymidine, this is a careful study of the dynamic distribution of proliferating cells in scale morphogenesis. The question for us now is to find the molecular regulators behind those patterns. This paper also showed that proliferating cells are distributed widely in scale regions, unlike the much more localized distribution in feather follicles. - PubMed
    1. Gill FB, editor. Ornithology. 2. New York: Freeman; 1994.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources