GENE-REGULATORY NETWORK GOVERNING THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF BUTTERFLY EYESPOTS- A NOVEL COMPLEX TRAITS

Abstract

A major challenge in evolutionary research is to understand the genetic and molecular mechanisms behind morphological innovations, i.e., how evolutionary novelties originate and diversify. One of the models of morphological innovation that enjoys the greatest consensus in the field involves the co-option of genes from pre-existing networks into novel networks and novel traits. But whether genes are co-opted individually or as part of larger networks is still not well known. Here in this work, I explored the gene-regulatory network (GRN) of eyespots on butterfly wings, which are such evolutionary and developmental novelties. I show that eyespots evolved via the co-option of an ancestral GRN which patterns antenna, leg and wings. Also, I show that spots, simple monochromatic patterns present in basal and sister lineages to those where eyespots evolved, share a subset of the same ancestral GRN with eyespots.