Vermilion and cinnabar are involved in ommochrome pigment biosynthesis in eyes but not wings of Bicyclus anynana butterflies.

ABSTRACT: If the same pigment is found in different tissues in a body, it is natural to assume that the same metabolic pathways are deployed similarly in each tissue. Here we show that this is not the case for ommochromes, the red and orange pigments found in the eyes and wings of butterflies. We tested the expression and function of vermilion and cinnabar, two known fly genes in the ommochrome pathway, in the development of pigments in the eyes and in the wings of Bicyclus anynana butterflies, both traits having reddish/orange pigments. By using fluorescent in-situ hybridization (HCR3.0) we localized the expression of vermilion and cinnabar in the cytoplasm of pigment cells in the ommatidia but observed no clear expression for either gene on larval and pupal wings. We then disrupted the function of

SUBMITTER: How SHC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10256707 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature