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. 2023 Aug 29;42(8):112981.
doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112981. Epub 2023 Aug 17.

New molecular insights into butterfly pigmentation

Marcus R Kronforst  1 , Sofia I Sheikh  2
Affiliations

New molecular insights into butterfly pigmentation

Marcus R Kronforst et al. Cell Rep. .

Abstract

Hanly et al.1 and Nishida et al.2 use distinct approaches to provide exceptional lessons regarding the genetic, molecular, morphological, and biochemical bases of butterfly wing pigmentation. These mechanistic insights collectively have important implications for our understanding of phenotype evolution.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interests The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Mechanisms of butterfly wing pigmentation described in two recent studies. A) Top: Pigment variation within and between two closely related Colias species. Bottom: Summary of genetic mapping, showing that candidate loci or genomic regions account for 70% and 18% of variation in wing color and size, respectively. B) Two distantly related green butterflies have evolved similar wing phenotypes using a novel liquid pigment. Zoom-in shows a dorsal view of the brown/melanic and green regions and a cross-section of the wing illustrating the green liquid between upper and lower cuticle membrane. Divergence estimate from ref. .
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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References

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    1. Nishida K, Adachi H, Moriyama M, Futahashi R, Hanson PE, and Kondo S (2023). Butterfly wing color made of pigmented liquid: a novel form of wing coloration. Cell Reports. - PubMed
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