<b>Plumage polymorphism in the black sparrowhawk (</b><b><i>Accipiter melanoleucus</i></b><b>) </b><b>is strongly associated with expression level of</b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>agouti signalling protein</i></b>

The dataset consists of the following eight files:Sample metadata (Excel file). This file provides metadata for the birds used in this study. Sheet 1 contains an explanation of the information provided and the GPS co-ordinates of the sampling locations. Sheet 2 contains metadata for the adult birds and sheet 3 contains metadata for the juvenile birds.HPLC dataset (Excel file). This file contains the results of the high performance liquid chromatography runs used to determine the eumelanin and pheomelanin content of feathers. Sheet 1 contains an explanation of the variables measured in these assays. Sheet 2 contains HPLC results for the adult birds and sheet 3 contains those for the juvenile birds.qPCR dataset (Excel file). This file contains the results of the quantitative PCR analyses performed to determine relative expression levels of the five melanogenesis genes. Each sheet contains experimental data for a single gene (the <em>GAPDH</em> reference gene or one of the five melanogenesis genes). For each gene the following information is provided: sample ID (column A), quantification cycle (Cq - column B), difference in Cq values between the two technical replicates (column C), calculated concentration for each technical replicate (column D), coefficient of variation for each biological replicate (column E) and qPCR run (column F). Column J contains the mean calculated concentration for each biological replicate, and for the melanogenesis genes only, column K contains the <em>GAPDH</em> expression values for that sample and column L the relative expression values of the gene of interest (calculated by normalisation to the <em>GAPDH </em>values). Efficiency and R² values as determined from the standard curve are also provided for each qPCR run.<em>MC1R</em> sequence alignment (FASTA file). This file contains the nucleotide sequences for the <em>MC1R</em> PCR amplicon from five dark-morph adult and five light-morph adult birds. Note that the primers have been trimmed from these sequences (final length = 811 bp).<em>ASIP</em> sequence alignment (FASTA file). This file contains the nucleotide sequences for the <em>ASIP</em> PCR amplicon from five dark morph adult and five light morph adult birds. Note that the primers have been trimmed from these sequences (final length = 363 bp).R code (Plain text file). This contains all the R code necessary to repeat the analyses described in the paper using the "AdHPLC.csv" and "ExALL.csv" data files provided.AdHPLC (CSV file). This is a data file for use with the R code provided (file 6). <strong>Please note that all blank cells in this file are deliberate</strong>.ExALL (CSV file). This is a data file for use with the R code provided (file 6). <strong>Please note that all blank cells in this file are deliberate</strong>. Experimental data and R code used for analyses detailed in Rodseth et al. "Plumage polymorphism in the black sparrowhawk (<em>Accipiter melanoleucus</em>) is strongly associated with expression level of <em>agouti signalling protein".</em> <br> <br> <br>