Van Belleghem Steven M, Rastas Pasi, Papanicolaou Alexie, Martin Simon H, Arias Carlos F, Supple Megan A, Hanly Joseph J, Mallet James, Lewis James J, Hines Heather M, Ruiz Mayte, Salazar Camilo, Linares Mauricio, Moreira Gilson R P, Jiggins Chris D, Counterman Brian A, McMillan W Owen, Papa Riccardo
Department of Biology, Center for Applied Tropical Ecology and Conservation, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico.
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Panamá, Panama.
Nat Ecol Evol. 2017;1(3):52. doi: 10.1038/s41559-016-0052. Epub 2017 Jan 30.
Identifying the genomic changes that control morphological variation and understanding how they generate diversity is a major goal of evolutionary biology. In butterflies, a small number of genes control the development of diverse wing color patterns. Here, we used full genome sequencing of individuals across the radiation and closely related species to characterize genomic variation associated with wing pattern diversity. We show that variation around color pattern genes is highly modular, with narrow genomic intervals associated with specific differences in color and pattern. This modular architecture explains the diversity of color patterns and provides a flexible mechanism for rapid morphological diversification.
识别控制形态变异的基因组变化，并了解它们如何产生多样性，是进化生物学的一个主要目标。在蝴蝶中，少数基因控制着多样的翅色图案的发育。在这里，我们对整个辐射范围内的个体以及近缘物种进行了全基因组测序，以表征与翅型多样性相关的基因组变异。我们表明，颜色图案基因周围的变异具有高度模块化，狭窄的基因组区间与颜色和图案的特定差异相关。这种模块化结构解释了颜色图案的多样性，并为快速的形态多样化提供了一种灵活的机制。
