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Nymphalid eyespots are co-opted to novel wing locations following a similar pattern in independent lineages

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Title Nymphalid eyespots are co-opted to novel wing locations following a similar pattern in independent lineages
Names Schachat, Sandra R. (creator)
Oliver, Jeffrey C. (creator)
Monteiro, Antónia (creator)
Date Issued 2015-02-14 (iso8601)
Note This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by the author(s) and published by BioMed Central Ltd. The published article can be found at: http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcevolbiol/.
Abstract BACKGROUND: Variation in the number of repeated traits, or serial homologs, has contributed greatly to animal body
plan diversity. Eyespot color patterns of nymphalid butterflies, like arthropod and vertebrate limbs, are an example
of serial homologs. These eyespot color patterns originated in a small number of wing sectors on the ventral
hindwing surface and later appeared in novel wing sectors, novel wings, and novel wing surfaces. However, the
details of how eyespots were co-opted to these novel wing locations are currently unknown.
RESULTS: We used a large data matrix of eyespot/presence absence data, previously assembled from photographs of
contemporary species, to perform a phylogenetic investigation of eyespot origins in nine independent nymphalid
lineages. To determine how the eyespot gene regulatory network acquired novel positional information, we used
phylogenetic correlation analyses to test for non-independence in the origination of eyespots. We found consistent
patterns of eyespot gene network redeployment in the nine lineages, where eyespots first redeployed from the
ventral hindwing to the ventral forewing, then to new sectors within the ventral wing surface, and finally to the
dorsal wing surface. Eyespots that appeared in novel wing sectors modified the positional information of their serial
homolog ancestors in one of two ways: by changing the wing or surface identity while retaining sector identity,
or by changing the sector identity while retaining wing and surface identity.
CONCLUSIONS: Eyespot redeployment to novel sectors, wings, and surfaces happened multiple times in different
nymphalid subfamilies following a similar pattern. This indicates that parallel mutations altering expression of the
eyespot gene regulatory network led to its co-option to novel wing locations over time.
Genre Article
Access Condition http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/
Topic Serial homology
Identifier Schachat, S. R., Oliver, J. C., & Monteiro, A. (2015). Nymphalid eyespots are co-opted to novel wing locations following a similar pattern in independent lineages. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 15, 20. doi:10.1186/s12862-015-0300-x

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