Butterfly eyespots evolved via cooption of an ancestral gene-regulatory network that also patterns antennae, legs, and wings
Suriya Narayanan Murugesan, Heidi Connahs, Yuji Matsuoka, Mainak Das Gupta, Galen J. L. Tiong, Manizah Huq, V. Gowri, Sarah Monroe, Kevin D. Deem, Thomas Werner, Yoshinori Tomoyasu, Antónia Monteiro
Abstract
Significance Where do butterfly eyespots come from? One of the long-standing questions in the field of evolution concerns addressing where novel complex traits come from. Here we show that butterfly eyespots, a novel complex trait, likely originated from the redeployment of a preexisting gene-regulatory network regulating antennae, legs, and wings, to novel locations on the wing.
Topics & Concepts
EyespotBiologyGene regulatory networkWingTranscriptomeEvolutionary biologyButterflyGeneAppendageGeneticsAnatomyEcologyGene expressionEngineeringAerospace engineeringChromosomal and Genetic VariationsRetinal Development and DisordersDevelopmental Biology and Gene Regulation