The Evolutionary History of Wing Patterning Genes in Heliconius Butterflies

对适应和物种形成的遗传研究一直受到普遍缺乏的信息的限制，这些基因是构成适应特征的基础或导致物种最初分歧的原因。拉里·吉尔伯特的项目将通过首先识别基因组的部分和特定基因来建立这种联系，这些基因负责赫利柯斯蝴蝶的翅膀颜色图案，赫利柯斯蝴蝶是一个以翅膀图案多样性而闻名的群体。一旦确定了这些基因组区域，将使用DNA序列变异分析来衡量自然选择、遗传漂移和种间基因流动对它们进化的影响程度。该项目将全面审查物种形成的遗传原因和后果，以及负责生态重要特征的基因的分子进化。这项工作将产生各种更广泛的影响，涉及教育、代表性不足的群体的参与和成果的传播。该项目将用于培训一批有前途的研究生和本科生，其中许多是国际学生和女性，掌握实验设计和分子基因技术的基本技能。将特别努力以在线数据库的形式向研究人员和公众提供这一项目的成果。

Genetic studies of adaptation and speciation have been limited by a general lack of information about the genes that underlie adaptive traits or are responsible for the initial divergence of species. Larry Gilbert's project will make this connection by first identifying portions of the genome and specific genes that are responsible for wing color patterning in Heliconius butterflies, a group famous for its wing pattern diversity. Once these genomic regions have been identified, analyses of DNA sequence variation will be used to measure the extent to which natural selection, genetic drift, and interspecific gene flow have influenced their evolution. This project will provide a comprehensive examination of the genetic causes and consequences of speciation and the molecular evolution of genes responsible for ecologically important characters. There will be a variety of broader impacts from this work, related to education, participation of underrepresented groups, and dissemination of results. The project will serve to train a promising group of graduate and undergraduate students, many of whom are international and female, in the basic skills of experimental design and molecular genetic techniques. Special effort will be made to make the results of this project available to researchers and the general public in the form of an online database.