Darwinian natural selection for orange bioluminescent color in a Jamaican click beetle.

ABSTRACT: The Jamaican click beetle Pyrophorus plagiophthalamus (Coleoptera: Elateridae) is unique among all bioluminescent organisms in displaying a striking light color polymorphism [Biggley, W. H., Lloyd, J. E. & Seliger, H. H. (1967) J. Gen. Physiol. 50, 1681-1692]. Beetles on the island vary in the color of their ventral light organs from yellow-green to orange and their dorsal organs from green to yellow-green. The genetic basis for the color variation involves specific amino acid substitutions in the enzyme luciferase. Here, we show that dorsal and ventral light color in P. plagiophthalamus are under separate genetic control, we resolve the allelic basis for color variation, and, through analyses of luciferase sequence variation, we demonstrate that natural selection has produced a long-term

SUBMITTER: Stolz U 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC299859 | biostudies-literature | 2003 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature