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Comparative genomics of the mimicry switch in Papilio dardanus

Timmermans, M.J.T.N.; Baxter, S.W.; Clark, R.; Heckel, D.G.; Vogel, H.; Collins, S.; Papanicolaou, A.; Fukova, I.; Joron, M.; Thompson, M.J.; Jiggins, C.D.; ffrench-Constant, R.H.; Vogler, A.P.

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Authors

M.J.T.N. Timmermans

S.W. Baxter

D.G. Heckel

H. Vogel

S. Collins

A. Papanicolaou

I. Fukova

M. Joron

M.J. Thompson

C.D. Jiggins

R.H. ffrench-Constant

A.P. Vogler



Abstract

The African Mocker Swallowtail, Papilio dardanus, is a textbook example in evolutionary genetics. Classical breeding experiments have shown that wing pattern variation in this polymorphic Batesian mimic is determined by the polyallelic H locus that controls a set of distinct mimetic phenotypes. Using bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) sequencing, recombination analyses and comparative genomics, we show that H co-segregates with an interval of less than 500 kb that is collinear with two other Lepidoptera genomes and contains 24 genes, including the transcription factor genes engrailed (en) and invected (inv). H is located in a region of conserved gene order, which argues against any role for genomic translocations in the evolution of a hypothesized multi-gene mimicry locus. Natural populations of P. dardanus show significant associations of specific morphs with single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), centred on en. In addition, SNP variation in the H region reveals evidence of non-neutral molecular evolution in the en gene alone. We find evidence for a duplication potentially driving physical constraints on recombination in the lamborni morph. Absence of perfect linkage disequilibrium between different genes in the other morphs suggests that H is limited to nucleotide positions in the regulatory and coding regions of en. Our results therefore support the hypothesis that a single gene underlies wing pattern variation in P. dardanus.

Citation

Timmermans, M., Baxter, S., Clark, R., Heckel, D., Vogel, H., Collins, S., …Vogler, A. (2014). Comparative genomics of the mimicry switch in Papilio dardanus. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 281(1787), https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.0465

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date May 14, 2014
Online Publication Date Jul 22, 2014
Publication Date Jul 22, 2014
Deposit Date May 1, 2019
Publicly Available Date May 1, 2019
Journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Print ISSN 0962-8452
Electronic ISSN 1471-2954
Publisher The Royal Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 281
Issue 1787
DOI https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.0465

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