Macroevolutionary shifts of WntA function potentiate butterfly wing-pattern diversity.

ABSTRACT: Butterfly wing patterns provide a rich comparative framework to study how morphological complexity develops and evolves. Here we used CRISPR/Cas9 somatic mutagenesis to test a patterning role for WntA, a signaling ligand gene previously identified as a hotspot of shape-tuning alleles involved in wing mimicry. We show that WntA loss-of-function causes multiple modifications of pattern elements in seven nymphalid butterfly species. In three butterflies with a conserved wing-pattern arrangement, WntA is necessary for the induction of stripe-like patterns known as symmetry systems and acquired a novel eyespot activator role specific to Vanessa forewings. In two Heliconius species, WntA specifies the boundaries between melanic fields and the light-color

SUBMITTER: Mazo-Vargas A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5635894 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature