How do birds thrive on diets so rich in sugar that they would cause metabolic chaos in humans? A new study reveals that evolution found both shared and unique genetic solutions.
🔗 Press release: www.bi.mpg.de/news/2026-02...
📸 Picture of a rainbow lorikeet by Gerald Allen
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MPI for Biological Intelligence
One gene, MLXIPL, shows convergent positive selection in all four groups. But lineage-specific solutions matter too — honeyeaters evolved changes in hexokinase 3 that increase its enzymatic rate. /3
Team effort across MPI Biological Intelligence, Harvard, and Senckenberg. Working with Ekaterina Osipova, Michael Hiller, Tim Sackton, and Maude Baldwin has been a genuine privilege — and none of it possible without our many co-authors. Thank you all. We hope you enjoy it! /4
We made it to the front page of @science.org today!! 🎉
Some birds process sugar loads that would be devastating to human metabolism. Many bird groups independently evolved this ability — did they all get there the same way? /1
We investigated exactly that in four groups: hummingbirds, sunbirds, honeyeaters, and parrots. The answer, it turns out, is both. /2
