Transcriptome analysis reveals novel patterning and pigmentation genes underlying Heliconius butterfly wing pattern variation

BMC Genomics

Research Article

Alexie Papanicolaou¹  Mayte Ruiz²  H Frederik Nijhout³  Riccardo Papa⁴  Robert D Reed⁵  Heather M Hines⁶  Charles Wang⁷  W Owen McMillan⁸ 

[1] CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, GPO 1700, 2601, Canberra, ACT, Australia;Department of Biology and Center for Applied Tropical Ecology and Conservation, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, 00921, San Juan, Puerto Rico;Department of Biology, Duke University, 27708, Durham, NC, USA;Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, 92697, Irvine, CA, USA;Department of Biology and Center for Applied Tropical Ecology and Conservation, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, 00921, San Juan, Puerto Rico;Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, 92697, Irvine, CA, USA;Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama City, Panama;Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, 14853, Ithaca, NY, USA;Department of Genetics, North Carolina State University, 27695, Raleigh, NC, USA;Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, 16802, University Park, PA, USA;Functional Genomics Core, Beckman Research Institute, City of Hope, 91010, Duarte, CA, USA;Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama City, Panama;Department of Genetics, North Carolina State University, 27695, Raleigh, NC, USA;

关键词: Heliconius;    Adaptation;    Pigmentation;    Ommochrome;    Melanin;    Genomics;    Evo-devo;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2164-13-288

 received in 2012-03-05, accepted in 2012-06-14,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundHeliconius butterfly wing pattern diversity offers a unique opportunity to investigate how natural genetic variation can drive the evolution of complex adaptive phenotypes. Positional cloning and candidate gene studies have identified a handful of regulatory and pigmentation genes implicated in Heliconius wing pattern variation, but little is known about the greater developmental networks within which these genes interact to pattern a wing. Here we took a large-scale transcriptomic approach to identify the network of genes involved in Heliconius wing pattern development and variation. This included applying over 140 transcriptome microarrays to assay gene expression in dissected wing pattern elements across a range of developmental stages and wing pattern morphs of Heliconius erato.ResultsWe identified a number of putative early prepattern genes with color-pattern related expression domains. We also identified 51 genes differentially expressed in association with natural color pattern variation. Of these, the previously identified color pattern “switch gene” optix was recovered as the first transcript to show color-specific differential expression. Most differentially expressed genes were transcribed late in pupal development and have roles in cuticle formation or pigment synthesis. These include previously undescribed transporter genes associated with ommochrome pigmentation. Furthermore, we observed upregulation of melanin-repressing genes such as ebony and Dat1 in non-melanic patterns.ConclusionsThis study identifies many new genes implicated in butterfly wing pattern development and provides a glimpse into the number and types of genes affected by variation in genes that drive color pattern evolution.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Hines et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012