Japan Team Discovers Why Crows Are Black

Tokyo, May 14 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese research group has said that it identified the scientific mechanism that explains why crows are black.

The study by the team led by Okayama University professor Sakae Takeuchi shows that the "switch that produces black color" is always on in the species.

About 30 years ago, Takeuchi discovered that MC1R, a receptor found in pigment cells of birds and mammals, controls feather color.

He also found that the receptor is activated by hormone stimulation and encourages the synthesis of black melanin pigment. Still, the detailed workings of this mechanism in wild birds were not well understood.

The research team created the large-billed crow MC1R in cultured cells and conducted a detailed analysis. The results showed that MC1R in crows is always active, even without hormone stimulation, promoting the synthesis of black melanin pigment.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]