- THIS ARTICLE
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Data Supplement
-
All Versions of this Article:
genetics.107.082982v1
180/3/1567 most recent - Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me if a correction is posted
- SERVICES
- Email this article to a friend
- Related articles in Genetics
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Alert me to new issues of the journal
- Download to citation manager
- Reprints & Permissions
- CITING ARTICLES
- Citing Articles via HighWire
- Citing Articles via Google Scholar
- GOOGLE SCHOLAR
- Articles by Baxter, S. W.
- Articles by Jiggins, C. D.
- Search for Related Content
- PUBMED
- PubMed Citation
- Articles by Baxter, S. W.
- Articles by Jiggins, C. D.
Originally published as Genetics Published Articles Ahead of Print on September 14, 2008.
Genetics, Vol. 180, 1567-1577, November 2008, Copyright © 2008
doi:10.1534/genetics.107.082982
Convergent Evolution in the Genetic Basis of Müllerian Mimicry in Heliconius Butterflies
Simon W. Baxter*,1,
Riccardo Papa
,
Nicola Chamberlain
,
Sean J. Humphray
,
Mathieu Joron**,
Clay Morrison,
Richard H. ffrench-Constant,
W. Owen McMillan and
Chris D. Jiggins*
* Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, United Kingdom, University of California, Irvine, California 92697, University of Exeter, Cornwall TR10 9EZ, United Kingdom, The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge CB10 1SA, United Kingdom, ** Institute for Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, United Kingdom and Department of Genetics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695
1 Corresponding author: Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing St., Cambridge CB2 3EJ, United Kingdom.
E-mail: swb29{at}cam.ac.uk
The neotropical butterflies Heliconius melpomene and H. erato are Müllerian mimics that display the same warningly colored wing patterns in local populations, yet pattern diversity between geographic regions. Linkage mapping has previously shown convergent red wing phenotypes in these species are controlled by loci on homologous chromosomes. Here, AFLP bulk segregant analysis using H. melpomene crosses identified genetic markers tightly linked to two red wing-patterning loci. These markers were used to screen a H. melpomene BAC library and a tile path was assembled spanning one locus completely and part of the second. Concurrently, a similar strategy was used to identify a BAC clone tightly linked to the locus controlling the mimetic red wing phenotypes in H. erato. A methionine rich storage protein (MRSP) gene was identified within this BAC clone, and comparative genetic mapping shows red wing color loci are in homologous regions of the genome of H. erato and H. melpomene. Subtle differences in these convergent phenotypes imply they evolved independently using somewhat different developmental routes, but are nonetheless regulated by the same switch locus. Genetic mapping of MRSP in a third related species, the "tiger" patterned H. numata, has no association with wing patterning and shows no evidence for genomic translocation of wing-patterning loci.
Related articles in Genetics:
ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS
Genetics 2008 180: NP.
This article has been cited by other articles:
 |
|
 |
|
  B. Charlesworth and D. Charlesworth Darwin and Genetics Genetics, November 1, 2009; 183(3): 757 - 766. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|