The genetic basis of convergent evolution in tropical butterflies

拟态是一种惊人的收敛进化形式，在这种进化中，多个物种在同一表型上收敛。防御性的模仿在生命之树上很常见，尤其令人印象深刻的例子来自热带蝴蝶(例如赫利柯斯蝴蝶、石斑蝶和凤头蝶)。趋同可能是不同物种使用相同的等位基因、相同的基因或使用不同的基因造成的。拟态的遗传控制在螺旋藻属中已经得到了很好的研究。但在新热带地区，物种丰富的类人猿部落的蝴蝶被认为是许多模仿的主要令人反感的模型。然而，这些重要物种中模仿的遗传基础尚不清楚。在这个多学科项目中，我们将使用一系列技术(厄瓜多尔和/或哥伦比亚的热带田野调查、高通量测序、基因表达分析和生物信息学)来了解一组重要的类人猿蝴蝶拟态的遗传基础。这些技能的培训将通过设在约克/谢菲尔德/巴黎的监督小组以及设在厄瓜多尔和哥伦比亚的项目伙伴提供。

Mimicry is a striking form of convergent evolution in which multiple species converge on the same phenotype. Defensive mimicry is common across the tree of life, and particularly impressive examples come from tropical butterflies (e.g. Heliconius, ithomiine and Papilio species). Convergence may result from different species using the same alleles, the same genes, or using different genes. The genetic control of mimicry has been well studied in the Heliconius genus. But in the Neotropics, butterflies of the species-rich ithomiine tribe are thought to be the prime distasteful models in many cases of mimicry. Yet the genetic basis of mimicry in these important species is unknown. In this multidisciplinary project we will use range of techniques (tropical fieldwork in Ecuador and/orColombia, high-throughput sequencing, gene expression analysis and bioinformatics) to understand the genetic basis of mimicry in an important group of ithomiine butterflies. Training in these skills will be provided through the supervisory team in York/Sheffield/Paris and Project Partners in Ecuador and Colombia.