DOI: 10.5061/dryad.qjq2bvqqw
title: Data from: The genomic basis of plumage polymorphism in the Eastern Screech-Owl (Megascops asio)

description: Understanding the genetic basis of polymorphic traits is useful for
 exploring the origin and maintenance of variable phenotypes. Previous work
 on color polymorphism in birds has evolved from targeting candidate genes
 to whole genome scans, consequently revealing the often-complex genomic
 architecture underlying polymorphic coloration. The Eastern Screech-Owl
 (Megascops asio) is a small North American polymorphic forest owl in which
 both gray and rufous plumage morphs are common across much of its range.
 We used whole-genome resequencing to investigate the genomic basis of this
 polymorphic trait at a population level, revealing additive and epistatic
 sources of this color and pattern variation. Using three approaches,
 comparisons identified a genome-wide suite of loci known to be associated
 with coloration, several loci associated with non-coloration physiological
 pathways, and using a regression model-based approach, identified
 substantial epistatic interactions between loci underlying variation in
 screech-owl coloration. Many owl species show similar patterns of color
 polymorphism, which is likely mediated through parallel and equally
 complex genomic architecture that may partly explain how this trait has
 been maintained over evolutionary time as this group radiated.
description: # Data from: The genomic basis of plumage polymorphism in the Eastern
 Screech-Owl (Megascops asio) Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.qjq2bvqqw](10.5061/dryad.qjq2bvqqw) Robinson, B. W., S.
 Kurtis, B. G. Butcher, S. V. Edwards, I. J. Lovette, and J. Walsh. The
 genomic basis to plumage polymorphism in the Eastern Screech-Owl
 (Megascops asio). **Author details:** Corresponding author: Bryce W.
 Robinson - [bwr46@cornell.edu](mailto:bwr46@cornell.edu), ORCID
 0000-0003-1422-8842 Our study investigates the genomic basis of plumage
 polymorphism in the Eastern Screech-Owl (Megascops asio) through
 comparisons using Fst, and quantified plumage in two ways to assess
 associations between continuous plumage variation and genomic variation
 using GWAS. We also investigated outlier regions in both analyses for
 candidate genes, assessed instances of additive or epistatic relationships
 between these candidate genes, and tested for patterns of selection. All
 authors are responsible for the data collection. Bryce W. Robinson, Jen
 Walsh, and Sarah Kurtis wrote or adapted the code. ### Data Description
 All feather patch photos are available on Dryad. File names are structured
 as a first letter that indicates that individual's morph (G or R),
 followed by the catalog number, then the location and file size (mantle,
 400 pixels). The reference .fasta is also available on Dryad
 (Masio_pseudohap2.1.fasta). All genome sequences are available on NCBI.
 BWR ran following code under: R version 4.2.2 (2022-10-31) Platform:
 aarch64-apple-darwin20 (64-bit) Running under: macOS 14.4.1 **All R code
 can be found in the separate R file on Dryad - Robinson_EASO_Rcode.R**
 Reference genome assembly scripts can be found at
 [https://github.com/skurtis/Screech-owl-reference-genome-assembly](https://github.com/skurtis/Screech-owl-reference-genome-assembly) scripts can be found at [https://github.com/jenwalshemond/EASO_Scripts ](https://github.com/jenwalshemond/EASO_Scripts)and [https://github.com/bwr46/megascops/bash_scripts](https://github.com/bwr46/megascops/bash_scripts)