Cortex cis-regulatory switches establish scale colour identity and pattern diversity in Heliconius

eLife

James J Lewis¹  Camilo Salazar²  Zachary H Goldberg³  Michael W Perry³  Steven M Van Bellghem⁴  Riccardo Papa⁴  Gabriela Montejo-Kovacevich⁵  Jonah M Walker⁵  Charlotte J Wright⁵  Ian A Warren⁵  Laura Hebberecht⁶  Eva SM van der Heijden⁶  Chris D Jiggins⁶  Luca Livraghi⁶  Joseph J Hanly⁷  Carolina Concha⁸  Henry Arenas-Castro⁸  W Owen McMillan⁸  Jessica Foley⁸  Arnaud Martin⁹  Ling Sheng Loh⁹  Anna Ren⁹ 

[1] Baker Institute for Animal Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, United States;Biology Program, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia;Cell & Developmental Biology, Division of Biological Sciences, UC San Diego, La Jolla, United States;Department of Biology, Centre for Applied Tropical Ecology and Conservation, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico;Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing St., Cambridge, United Kingdom;Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing St., Cambridge, United Kingdom;Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Gamboa, Panama;Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing St., Cambridge, United Kingdom;Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Gamboa, Panama;The George Washington University Department of Biological Sciences, Science and Engineering Hall, Washington, United States;Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Gamboa, Panama;The George Washington University Department of Biological Sciences, Science and Engineering Hall, Washington, United States;

关键词: heliconius;    evolution;    wing patterning;    crisppr;    ATAC-Seq;    cis-regulation;    Other;   

DOI  :  10.7554/eLife.68549

来源: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd

【 摘 要 】

In Heliconius butterflies, wing colour pattern diversity and scale types are controlled by a few genes of large effect that regulate colour pattern switches between morphs and species across a large mimetic radiation. One of these genes, cortex, has been repeatedly associated with colour pattern evolution in butterflies. Here we carried out CRISPR knockouts in multiple Heliconius species and show that cortex is a major determinant of scale cell identity. Chromatin accessibility profiling and introgression scans identified cis-regulatory regions associated with discrete phenotypic switches. CRISPR perturbation of these regions in black hindwing genotypes recreated a yellow bar, revealing their spatially limited activity. In the H. melpomene/timareta lineage, the candidate CRE from yellow-barred phenotype morphs is interrupted by a transposable element, suggesting that cis-regulatory structural variation underlies these mimetic adaptations. Our work shows that cortex functionally controls scale colour fate and that its cis-regulatory regions control a phenotypic switch in a modular and pattern-specific fashion.

【 授权许可】

CC BY