Animal coloration is a complex, multifunctional trait that biologists have intensely investigated to unravel its proximate mechanisms and ultimate evolutionary drivers. Pigmentation is known to play a significant role in several aspects of fitness, including mate choice, camouflage/crypsis, defense/warning signaling, thermoregulation, communication, and immunity. Pigmentation genetics has been addressed in an extensive literature over more than a century, with some of the first studies being published in Journal of Heredity (e.g., Wright 1917, 1918), which has remained an important outlet for discoveries in this field. Throughout this period, some aspects of animal coloration genetics have become well understood, as discussed in several recent reviews (e.g., Hubbard et al. 2010; Cuthill et al. 2017; Alvarado 2020; Caro and Mallarino 2020; Orteu and Jiggins 2020; Eizirik and Trindade 2021). At the same time, many outstanding questions remain even on those aspects, whereas for other topics, the field remains in its infancy, with major questions still wide-open and myriad opportunities for novel research. In this context, this Special Issue brings together a suite of studies addressing a variety of themes related to animal coloration genetics. The articles that comprise it include a review on diverse aspects of avian coloration and 8 primary research articles targeting a variety of topics in fish, gray wolves, goats, horses, and 2 different groups of birds.

中文翻译：

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生态学、进化和驯化中的动物色素沉着遗传学

动物体色是一种复杂的多功能性状，生物学家对其进行了深入研究，以揭示其最接近的机制和最终的进化驱动因素。众所周知，色素沉着在健康的几个方面发挥着重要作用，包括配偶选择、伪装/隐匿、防御/警告信号、体温调节、交流和免疫。一个多世纪以来，色素沉着遗传学已在大量文献中得到解决，其中一些首批研究发表在《遗传学杂志》上(eg, Wright 1917, 1918)，这一直是该领域发现的重要渠道。在此期间，动物着色遗传学的某些方面已得到充分理解，正如最近几篇评论中所讨论的那样（例如，Hubbard 等人 2010 年；Cuthill 等人 2017 年；Alvarado 2020 年；Caro 和 Mallarino 2020 年；Orteu 和 Jiggins 2020 年；Eizirik和 Trindade 2021）。与此同时，即使在这些方面，许多悬而未决的问题仍然存在，而对于其他主题，该领域仍处于起步阶段，主要问题仍然悬而未决，新研究的机会也很多。在这种情况下，本期特刊汇集了一系列研究，涉及与动物着色遗传学相关的各种主题。