Duplex comb in the chicken: a multi-allelic trait

Allelism at the duplex comb locus was studied by means of crosses between the Sicilian Buttercup and La Flèche breeds of chickens and two single combed breeds. The horn V-shaped duplex comb of the La Flèche was shown to be inherited as an incomplete dominant when crossed with single comb birds, and it exhibited complete penetrance and a strong expression of duplex. The buttercup duplex comb of the Sicilian Buttercup in similar crosses was also shown to be inherited as an incompletely dominant trait, but with this type comb penetrance was reduced by 32% in females and its expression of duplex was greatly reduced when compared with the La Flèche. When the duplex comb types were crossed to each other, the V-shaped comb showed complete dominance over the buttercup comb. It is proposed that there are at least three alleles at the duplex locus: D (v-type) greater than Dc (buttercup type) greater than d+ (non-duplex type). The most dominant allele (Dv) causes both doubling of the comb and suppression of its tissue mass, while the less dominant allele (Dc) only causes doubling of the comb.