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Some traditions never dye. This year, instead of painting your Easter eggs in blue, why not get some that were just created this way?
That's what I'm doing. As in more and more urban areas of the United States, Oakland, California, where I live, allows rearing backyard chicken. This is the second season of our family. On the first day of spring, one of our last chicken shoots covered a spectacular bluish green egg.
Blue eggs are visible everywhere on Instagram, especially this week. And this is not surprising: for those who are accustomed to white and brown eggs, these pale teal specimens are striking.
But what makes them blue? Chickens, like dogs and cats, belong to many breeds. This is partly due to a long history of domestication. The American race Ameraucana is known for its blue eggs and produces them reliably. He shares the heritage with the South American race araucana, which has the same shells of dreamy color.
Unlike the typical inheritance – for example, brown hair or blue eyes in humans – these chickens do not inherit a gene-containing DNA for blue eggs. Research conducted in 2013 showed that the genome of these chickens was edited by an endogenous retrovirus, a virus that inserts its own genetic code into the host's DNA. The result has an impact on how the chicken's uterus gives color to the pbading egg.
By sequencing the genomes of laying hens in China and in America laying blue eggs, the researchers determined that these breeds do not share a common ancestor, but rather are an example of parallel evolution, where two organisms find themselves with the same adaptation .
So, at Easter, why not celebrate with a little evolutionary biology? Even if you do not celebrate, open one of these eggs. They make a big jam on Sunday.
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