Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico.
Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology, Biology Department, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Science. 2023 Mar 10;379(6636):1043-1049. doi: 10.1126/science.ade0004. Epub 2023 Mar 9.
Little is known about the extent to which species use homologous regulatory architectures to achieve phenotypic convergence. By characterizing chromatin accessibility and gene expression in developing wing tissues, we compared the regulatory architecture of convergence between a pair of mimetic butterfly species. Although a handful of color pattern genes are known to be involved in their convergence, our data suggest that different mutational paths underlie the integration of these genes into wing pattern development. This is supported by a large fraction of accessible chromatin being exclusive to each species, including the de novo lineage-specific evolution of a modular enhancer. These findings may be explained by a high level of developmental drift and evolutionary contingency that occurs during the independent evolution of mimicry.
关于物种在何种程度上利用同源调控结构来实现表型趋同，人们知之甚少。通过对发育中的翅膀组织的染色质可及性和基因表达进行特征分析，我们比较了一对拟态蝴蝶物种趋同的调控结构。尽管已知有少数颜色图案基因参与了它们的趋同，但我们的数据表明，这些基因整合到翅膀图案发育中的突变途径是不同的。这一点得到了大量的支持，每个物种都有独特的可及染色质，包括一个模块化增强子的从头特化进化。这些发现可以用模拟物独立进化过程中发生的高水平发育漂移和进化偶然性来解释。
