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dc.contributor.authorPapa, Riccardoen_GB
dc.contributor.authorMorrison, Clayton Men_GB
dc.contributor.authorWalters, James Ren_GB
dc.contributor.authorCounterman, Brian Aen_GB
dc.contributor.authorChen, Ruien_GB
dc.contributor.authorHalder, Georgen_GB
dc.contributor.authorFerguson, Lauraen_GB
dc.contributor.authorChamberlain, Nicolaen_GB
dc.contributor.authorffrench-Constant, Richarden_GB
dc.contributor.authorKapan, Durrell Den_GB
dc.contributor.authorJiggins, Chris Den_GB
dc.contributor.authorReed, Robert Den_GB
dc.contributor.authorMcMillan, William Oen_GB
dc.contributor.departmentUniversity of Exeteren_GB
dc.date.accessioned2008-09-28T21:26:24Zen_GB
dc.date.accessioned2011-01-25T11:47:05Zen_GB
dc.date.accessioned2013-03-20T14:48:48Z
dc.date.issued2008-07-22en_GB
dc.description.abstractBackground With over 20 parapatric races differing in their warningly colored wing patterns, the butterfly Heliconius erato provides a fascinating example of an adaptive radiation. Together with matching races of its co-mimic Heliconius melpomene, H. erato also represents a textbook case of Müllerian mimicry, a phenomenon where common warning signals are shared amongst noxious organisms. It is of great interest to identify the specific genes that control the mimetic wing patterns of H. erato and H. melpomene. To this end we have undertaken comparative mapping and targeted genomic sequencing in both species. This paper reports on a comparative analysis of genomic sequences linked to color pattern mimicry genes in Heliconius. Results Scoring AFLP polymorphisms in H. erato broods allowed us to survey loci at approximately 362 kb intervals across the genome. With this strategy we were able to identify markers tightly linked to two color pattern genes: D and Cr, which were then used to screen H. erato BAC libraries in order to identify clones for sequencing. Gene density across 600 kb of BAC sequences appeared relatively low, although the number of predicted open reading frames was typical for an insect. We focused analyses on the D- and Cr-linked H. erato BAC sequences and on the Yb-linked H. melpomene BAC sequence. A comparative analysis between homologous regions of H. erato (Cr-linked BAC) and H. melpomene (Yb-linked BAC) revealed high levels of sequence conservation and microsynteny between the two species. We found that repeated elements constitute 26% and 20% of BAC sequences from H. erato and H. melpomene respectively. The majority of these repetitive sequences appear to be novel, as they showed no significant similarity to any other available insect sequences. We also observed signs of fine scale conservation of gene order between Heliconius and the moth Bombyx mori, suggesting that lepidopteran genome architecture may be conserved over very long evolutionary time scales. Conclusion Here we have demonstrated the tractability of progressing from a genetic linkage map to genomic sequence data in Heliconius butterflies. We have also shown that fine-scale gene order is highly conserved between distantly related Heliconius species, and also between Heliconius and B. mori. Together, these findings suggest that genome structure in macrolepidoptera might be very conserved, and show that mapping and positional cloning efforts in different lepidopteran species can be reciprocally informative.en_GB
dc.identifier.citationBMC Genomics 2008 9:345en_GB
dc.identifier.doi10.1186/1471-2164-9-345en_GB
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10036/38255en_GB
dc.language.isoenen_GB
dc.publisherBioMed Centralen_GB
dc.relation.urlhttp://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/9/345en_GB
dc.relation.urlhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0en_GB
dc.rightsCopyright © 2008 Papa et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.en_GB
dc.titleHighly conserved gene order and numerous novel repetitive elements in genomic regions linked to wing pattern variation in Heliconius butterfliesen_GB
dc.typeArticleen_GB
dc.date.available2008-07-22en_GB
dc.date.available2008-09-28T21:26:24Zen_GB
dc.date.available2011-01-25T11:47:05Zen_GB
dc.date.available2013-03-20T14:48:48Z
dc.identifier.issn1471-2164en_GB
dc.identifier.journalBMC Genomicsen_GB
dc.identifier.pmcid2515155en_GB
dc.identifier.pmid18647405en_GB


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