Preliminary Investigation of The GC Content of the MC1R Gene in Birds and the Effect on its Plumage

ABSTRACT The study explores correlations between GC content and plumage in various avian species for understanding evolutionary or environmental adaptations. Using the GC content values of the MC1R gene in avians, this study covers the effect of this gene on its plumage. Therefore, R was used to statistically explain and visualize the genetic data provided by the NCBI database. After analyzing the necessary data, several discoveries were unveiled. First, the GC content was calculated using the absolute minimum possible value by counting all undetermined nucleotides N as neither a guanine nor a cytosine. This created some correlations. When the GC content of the MC1R gene is low in an avian, their plumage is likely to change, but not necessarily light. On the other hand, when the GC content is high, the avians will likely have darker feathers; therefore, their feathers will be less likely to change colors as easily due to the dark melanin. Then, after some revising and adding a five percent winsorization for outliers and applying it, it seems that the hue can correlate fairly well with the MC1R gene compared to other indicators related to the color of the birds’ dominant feather plumage. In addition, since the low GC content of the birds’ MC1R gene also relates to the cyan color well, it may be effective for reflectivity like in fish.