Wing Patterns in the Mist

Arnaud Martin is with University of California Irvine, Durrell D. Kapan is with University of Hawaii at Manoa, Lawrence E. Gilbert is with UT Austin.The aesthetic appeal of butterfly wing patterns has been costly to their status as a tool of fundamental scientific inquiry. Thus, while mimetic convergence in wing patterns between edible “Batesian” mimics and distasteful models, or between different distasteful “Müllerian” mimics (species that cooperate to educate predators) has long been the subject of genetic analysis [1] and field experiments [2], most biology text books confine mimicry to sections on striking adaptations without applying these examples to broader topics of evolution. Meanwhile, the study of color patterns in animals, often tucked into the same sections of texts, is undergoing a revolution in this age of evo-devo and genomics [3]. Among insect models for studying color pattern, the genus Heliconius is gaining the attention of an ever-widening audience.Biological Sciences, School o

The Role of Appearance in Adolescents’ Experiences of Neurofibromatosis Type 1: A Survey of Young People and Parents

© 2016, National Society of Genetic Counselors, Inc. Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a genetic condition which can result in varying degrees of visible difference (disfigurement). Adolescence is a time when appearance concerns become more salient for many young people and is acknowledged as a particularly challenging time for individuals with NF1. There is currently little research into the psychosocial impact of the appearance changes associated with NF1 during this stage of life. In order to address this, surveys of young people with NF1 aged 14–24years (n=73), and parents of young people with NF1 (n=55) were developed following interview studies with these groups. The surveys included the Perceived Stigma Questionnaire, Social Comfort Questionnaire, Body Esteem Scale (appearance subscale) and the Subjective Happiness Scale. Young people and parents identified appearance as central to young peoples’ experience of NF1, however no significant difference was found on measures of body esteem, happiness, stigma or social comfort between those young people who reported their NF1 was noticeable to others and those who reported it was not. Findings from the parent survey indicated that their reports of greater perceived noticeability did relate to greater perceived stigma and lower levels of social comfort. Findings highlight the importance of attending to young people’s concerns around appearance in general and managing the possibility of future appearance changes, rather than the current noticeability of NF1

Genomic Hotspots for Adaptation: The Population Genetics of Mullerian Mimicry in Heliconius erato

Wing pattern evolution in Heliconius butterflies provides some of the most striking examples of adaptation by natural selection. The genes controlling pattern variation are classic examples of Mendelian loci of large effect, where allelic variation causes large and discrete phenotypic changes and is responsible for both convergent and highly divergent wing pattern evolution across the genus. We characterize nucleotide variation, genotype-by-phenotype associations, linkage disequilibrium (LD), and candidate gene expression patterns across two unlinked genomic intervals that control yellow and red wing pattern variation among mimetic forms of Heliconius erato. Despite very strong natural selection on color pattern, we see neither a strong reduction in genetic diversity nor evidence for extended LD across either patterning interval. This observation highlights the extent that recombination can erase the signature of selection in natural populations and is consistent with the hypothesis that either the adaptive radiation or the alleles controlling it are quite old. However, across both patterning intervals we identified SNPs clustered in several coding regions that were strongly associated with color pattern phenotype. Interestingly, coding regions with associated SNPs were widely separated, suggesting that color pattern alleles may be composed of multiple functional sites, conforming to previous descriptions of these loci as "supergenes." Examination of gene expression levels of genes flanking these regions in both H. erato and its co-mimic, H. melpomene, implicate a gene with high sequence similarity to a kinesin as playing a key role in modulating pattern and provides convincing evidence for parallel changes in gene regulation across co-mimetic lineages. The complex genetic architecture at these color pattern loci stands in marked contrast to the single casual mutations often identified in genetic studies of adaptation, but may be more indicative of the type of genetic changes responsible for much of the adaptive variation found in natural populations