A frizzle refers to a

plumage Plumage () is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, there can b ...

pattern in domesticated

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

s ('' Gallus gallus domesticus'') characterized by feathers that curl outwards, rather than lying flat as in most chickens. The frizzle type is not a separate

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

, but a variety within breeds. Though all breeds of chickens may be frizzled; it is most commonly seen in breeds such as the

Cochin Kochi ( , ), formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of Kerala. The city is also commonly referred to as Ernaku ...

, Pekin, and Polish. Chickens with this pattern are sometimes referred to as frizzles. The gene which causes the frizzles' peculiar feathering is an incomplete dominant trait.

Common Breeds

Almost all breeds can be frizzled, but the most common are listed below: *

* Polish *

Silkie The Silkie, also known as the Silky or Chinese silk chicken, is a Chinese breed of chicken named for its atypically fluffy plumage, which is soft to the touch, like silk or fur. Other unusual qualities include black skin and bones, blue earlob ...

(Commonly referred to as "Sizzle") *

Plymouth Rock Plymouth Rock is a boulder in Plymouth, Massachusetts, that symbolizes the historical disembarkation site of the '' Mayflower'' Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony in December 1620, and has been claimed to be the Pilgrims' actual landing site. ...

* Buff Orpington Bantam Breeds: * Japanese Bantams * Pekin

Genetics

Research suggests that the frizzled phenotype comes from a mutation within the keratin gene ''

KRT75 KRT75 is a keratin gene involved in hair shaft structure in mice. In chickens, mutations in ''KRT75'' cause animals to have frizzled Frizzled is a family of atypical G protein-coupled receptor, G protein-coupled receptors that serve as receptor ...

''. A deletion that removed part of

exon An exon is any part of a gene that will form a part of the final mature RNA produced by that gene after introns have been removed by RNA splicing. The term ''exon'' refers to both the DNA sequence within a gene and to the corresponding sequence ...

5 and

intron An intron is any nucleotide sequence within a gene that is not expressed or operative in the final RNA product. The word ''intron'' is derived from the term ''intragenic region'', i.e., a region inside a gene."The notion of the cistron .e., gen ...

5 ameliorated the splice site. This caused a 69

base pair A base pair (bp) is a fundamental unit of double-stranded nucleic acids consisting of two nucleobases bound to each other by hydrogen bonds. They form the building blocks of the DNA double helix and contribute to the folded structure of both DNA ...

deletion of the ''KRT75'' gene.

Uses

As a result of its unusual look, frizzles are primarily used as

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...

birds, and are included in most English language poultry standards. There is a pure breed of chicken with this feature, known as the Frizzle breed.The Frizzle Society of Great Britain
/ref>

References

* *

External links

PoultryHub Fancy Chicken Breeds - Frizzle
Chicken plumage patterns {{poultry-stub

Common Breeds

Genetics

Uses

See also

References

External links