Abstract: The feathers of wild spot\|billed ducks are brown, but a few individuals with yellow\|white or white plumage were found when they are domesticated. Tyrosinase (Tyr), Tyrosinase\|related protein\|1 (Tyrp1) and The tyrosine kinase receptor (C\|kit) are genes associated with melanogenesis. In this study, the relative expressions of these genes were analyzed in the three types of feather bulbs using Real\|time PCR, and microRNAs were predicted for these genes. The results showed that Tyr and Tyrp1 were strongly expressed in brown feather bulbs, weakly expressed in yellow\|white feather bulbs, and not expressed in white feather bulbs. C\|kit showed same expression level in brown feather bulbs and yellow\|white bulbs, but not expressed in white feather bulbs. In addition, 9, 25 and 18 microRNAs were predicted to regulate the expression of Tyr, Tyrp1 and C\|kit, respectively. These results suggested that the down regulation of Tyr, Tyrp1 and C\|kit might induce yellow\|white or white plumage of spot\|billed ducks.

Key words: spot\, billed ducks, feather bulbs, Tyr, Tyrp1, C\, kit, microRNA