Development genetics of adaptive wing pattern variation in butterflies

描述(由申请人提供)：针对复杂适应性特征如何受到基因调控的差异进行的比较研究，为有效针对疾病可能需要的多样化诊断和治疗提供了基本见解。赫利克乌斯蝴蝶物种H.Erato和H.Melpomene在新热带地区表现出平行的颜色多样化，形成多达30个拟态复合体。这个高度易处理的系统提供了许多颜色模式收敛和发散的例子，因此可以作为理解快速进化的复杂表型的遗传调节的代理。导致这些物种不同颜色模式的遗传开关已经缩小到三个基因座，其中两个基因座的基因组间隔已细化到约400kb。这项拟议的研究试图磨练这些蝴蝶的发散和会聚颜色模式表型的相关基因。为了实现这一目标，包含这些基因座上平铺的DNA和全基因组转录本的微阵列将在来自五个颜色模式小种的六个发育阶段与翅膀组织杂交。对这些阵列的差异杂交分析将用于评估每个基因座内负责颜色模式差异的基因、由这些调控基因引发的基因模块和假设的途径，以及这些途径之间的遗传相互作用。快速进化的性状可能在其潜在的基因表达上有很大的变异，甚至没有功能。每个颜色模式种族的多个个体的组织将与微阵列杂交，以探索候选基因之间基因表达的自然差异。颜色模式中涉及的基因将通过原位杂交和抗体对翅膀组织中RNA和蛋白质表达的空间分析进行进一步分析。 公共卫生相关性：通过研究蝴蝶不同模仿颜色模式背后的遗传学，我们获得了一个模型系统，用于理解基因相互作用和基因结构如何控制复杂特征的变化，并对生存产生高度影响。这将加强对疾病和抗病的复杂适应性特征的遗传调控的理解，因此突出了诊断和治疗疾病可能需要的多种策略。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Comparative studies addressing the variation in how complex adaptive traits can be genetically regulated provide basic insights into the diverse diagnosis and treatments that may be needed to effectively target disease. Heliconius butterfly species H. erato and H. melpomene exhibit parallel color pattern diversifications across the Neotropics, forming up to 30 mimicry complexes. This highly tractable system provides numerous examples of color pattern convergence and divergence, and thus serves as a proxy for understanding the genetic regulation of rapidly evolving complex phenotypes. The genetic switches responsible for the diverse color patterns in these species have been narrowed to three loci, two of which have been refined to a genomic interval of ~400KB each. The proposed study seeks to hone in on the genes responsible for both divergent and convergent color pattern phenotypes in these butterflies. Towards this goal, microarrays containing both DNA tiled across these loci and whole-genomic transcripts will be hybridized to wing tissues across six developmental stages from five color pattern races of H. erato. Analyses of differential hybridization on these arrays will be used to assess the genes responsible for color pattern differences within each locus, the gene modules and hypothetical pathways elicited by these regulatory genes, and the genetic interactions between these pathways. Rapidly evolving traits may have high variance or even non-functionality in their underlying gene expression. Tissues of multiple individuals of each color pattern race will be hybridized to microarrays to explore the natural variation in gene expression across candidate genes. Genes implicated in color pattern will be analyzed further using spatial analysis of RNA and protein expression in wing tissue using in situ hybridization and antibodies. Public Health Relevance: By examining the genetics behind diverse mimetic color patterns of butterflies we gain a model system for understanding how genetic interactions and gene architecture govern changes in complex traits with a high impact on survival. This will enhance understanding of the genetic regulation of the complex adaptive traits of disease and disease resistance and, therefore, highlight the multitude of strategies that may be needed to both diagnose and treat disease.