Faculty of Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
Heredity (Edinb). 2013 Mar;110(3):207-12. doi: 10.1038/hdy.2012.92. Epub 2012 Dec 5.
From the outset multiple causes have been suggested for changes in melanic gene frequency in the peppered moth Biston betularia and other industrial melanic moths. These have included higher intrinsic fitness of melanic forms and selective predation for camouflage. The possible existence and origin of heterozygote advantage has been debated. From the 1950s, as a result of experimental evidence, selective predation became the favoured explanation and is undoubtedly the major factor driving the frequency change. However, modelling and monitoring of declining melanic frequencies since the 1970s indicate either that migration rates are much higher than existing direct estimates suggested or else, or in addition, non-visual selection has a role. Recent molecular work on genetics has revealed that the melanic (carbonaria) allele had a single origin in Britain, and that the locus is orthologous to a major wing patterning locus in Heliconius butterflies. New methods of analysis should supply further information on the melanic system and on migration that will complete our understanding of this important example of rapid evolution.
起初，人们提出了多种原因来解释胡椒蛾 Biston betularia 和其他工业黑化蛾中黑化基因频率的变化。这些原因包括黑化形式的内在适应性更高和选择性捕食以实现伪装。杂合优势的可能存在和起源一直存在争议。自 20 世纪 50 年代以来，由于实验证据，选择性捕食成为了更受欢迎的解释，无疑是驱动频率变化的主要因素。然而，自 20 世纪 70 年代以来对黑色素减少频率的建模和监测表明，要么迁移率远高于现有直接估计所表明的，要么要么除了视觉选择之外，还有其他因素在起作用。最近对遗传学的分子研究表明，黑化（carbonaria）等位基因在英国有一个单一的起源，并且该基因座与 Heliconius 蝴蝶的一个主要翅膀图案基因座同源。新的分析方法应该提供更多关于黑色素系统和迁移的信息，从而完善我们对这一重要快速进化实例的理解。
