Structural color in Junonia butterflies evolves by tuning scale lamina thickness

eLife

Rachel C Thayer¹  Nipam H Patel²  Frances I Allen³ 

[1] Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, United States;Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, United States;Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, United States;Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, United States;California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, United States;

关键词: thin film;    artificial selection;    iridescence;    wing pattern;    optix;    Other;   

DOI  :  10.7554/eLife.52187

来源: publisher

【 摘 要 】

In diverse organisms, nanostructures that coherently scatter light create structural color, but how such structures are built remains mysterious. We investigate the evolution and genetic regulation of butterfly scale laminae, which are simple photonic nanostructures. In a lineage of buckeye butterflies artificially selected for blue wing color, we found that thickened laminae caused a color shift from brown to blue. Deletion of the optix patterning gene also altered color via lamina thickening, revealing shared regulation of pigments and lamina thickness. Finally, we show how lamina thickness variation contributes to the color diversity that distinguishes sexes and species throughout the genus Junonia. Thus, quantitatively tuning one dimension of scale architecture facilitates both the microevolution and macroevolution of a broad spectrum of hues. Because the lamina is an intrinsic component of typical butterfly scales, our findings suggest that tuning lamina thickness is an available mechanism to create structural color across the Lepidoptera.

【 授权许可】

CC BY