The Evolutionary History of Wing Patterning Genes in Heliconius Butterflies

由于普遍缺乏关于构成适应特征的基因或负责物种最初分化的基因的信息，对适应和物种形成的遗传研究受到限制。拉里·吉尔伯特的项目将通过首先识别负责蝴蝶翅膀颜色图案的部分基因组和特定基因来建立这种联系，蝴蝶是一个以翅膀图案多样性而闻名的群体。一旦这些基因组区域被确定，DNA序列变异分析将用于测量自然选择、遗传漂变和种间基因流动对其进化的影响程度。该项目将提供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的全面检查。这项工作将产生各种更广泛的影响，涉及教育、代表性不足群体的参与和结果的传播。该项目将有助于培养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遗传技术的基本技能。将特别努力使这个项目的结果以联机数据库的形式提供给研究人员和一般公众。

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.