Extensive transcriptional response associated with seasonal plasticity of butterfly wing patterns.

ABSTRACT: In the eastern United States, the buckeye butterfly, Junonia coenia, shows seasonal wing colour plasticity where adults emerging in the spring are tan, while those emerging in the autumn are dark red. This variation can be artificially induced in laboratory colonies, thus making J. coenia a useful model system to examine the mechanistic basis of plasticity. To better understand the developmental basis of seasonal plasticity, we used RNA-seq to quantify transcription profiles associated with development of alternative seasonal wing morphs. Depending on the developmental stage, between 547 and 1420 transfrags were significantly differentially expressed between morphs. These extensive differences in gene expression stand in contrast to the much smaller numbers of differentially expressed tran

SUBMITTER: Daniels EV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4545284 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature