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Development, plasticity and evolution of butterfly eyespot patterns

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Abstract

The developmental and genetic bases for the formation, plasticity and diversity of eyespot patterns in butterflies are examined. Eyespot pattern mutants, regulatory gene expression, and transplants of the eyespot developmental organizer demonstrate that eyespot position, number, size and colour are determined progressively in a developmental pathway largely uncoupled from those regulating other wing-pattern elements and body structures. Species comparisons and selection experiments suggest that the evolution of eyespot patterns can occur rapidly through modulation of different stages of this pathway, and requires only single, or very few, changes in regulatory genes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Evolutionary and Ecological Sciences, University of Leiden, Kaiserstraat 63, Postbus 9516, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Paul M. Brakefield, Fanja Kesbeke, Pieter J. Wijngaarden & Antónia Montelro

  2. Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Laboratory of Molecular Biology, University of Wisconsin, 1525 Linden Drive, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706, USA

    Julie Gates, Dave Keys & Sean B. Carroll

  3. Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh, Kings Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JT, UK

    Antónia Montelro & Vernon French

Authors
  1. Paul M. Brakefield
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  2. Julie Gates
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  3. Dave Keys
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  4. Fanja Kesbeke
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  5. Pieter J. Wijngaarden
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  6. Antónia Montelro
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  7. Vernon French
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  8. Sean B. Carroll
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Brakefield, P., Gates, J., Keys, D. et al. Development, plasticity and evolution of butterfly eyespot patterns. Nature 384, 236–242 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1038/384236a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/384236a0

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