Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA; Baker Institute for Animal Health, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
Curr Opin Genet Dev. 2021 Aug;69:72-81. doi: 10.1016/j.gde.2021.01.010. Epub 2021 Mar 11.
Butterflies have become prominent models for studying the evolution and development of phenotypic variation. In Heliconius, extraordinary within species divergence and between species convergence in wing color patterns has driven decades of comparative genetic studies. However, connecting genetic patterns of diversification to the molecular mechanisms of adaptation has remained elusive. Recent studies are bridging this gap between genome and function and have driven substantial advances in deciphering the genetic architecture of diversification in Heliconius. While only a handful of large-effect genes were initially identified in the diversification of Heliconius color patterns, recent experiments have begun to unravel the underlying gene regulatory networks and how these have evolved. These results reveal an evolutionary story of many interacting loci and partly independent genetic architectures that underlie convergent evolution.
蝴蝶已成为研究表型变异进化和发育的重要模型。在凤蝶属中，物种内的巨大差异和物种间的趋同进化导致了数十年来的比较遗传学研究。然而，将多样化的遗传模式与适应的分子机制联系起来一直难以捉摸。最近的研究正在弥合基因组和功能之间的差距，并在破译凤蝶多样化的遗传结构方面取得了重大进展。虽然最初在凤蝶颜色模式的多样化中只鉴定出少数几个大效应基因，但最近的实验开始揭示潜在的基因调控网络以及它们是如何进化的。这些结果揭示了一个由许多相互作用的基因座和部分独立的遗传结构构成的进化故事，这些结构是趋同进化的基础。
