AsianScientist (Oct. 20, 2014) – Scientists at the University of Tokyo have identified a putative transcription factor which controls caterpillar color. Their findings have been published in Nature Communications.
Eye spots on caterpillars are known to function as warning signals to predators. In particular, the complex brown patterns on larvae of the ancestral strain of the silkworm camouflage larvae to dead branches. It has also long been known that in the silkworm, Bombyx mori, the genes for 15 different larval pigmentation mutants are known to be mapped to a single location on the chromosome, the p locus. However, how the p locus was regulated to produce such a wide variety of patterns was unknown.
Now, a research group including Professor Haruhiko Fujiwara and doctoral student Mr. Shinichi Yoda at the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences have used silkworm mutants to elucidate the mechanism by which a single gene regulates the diverse coloration of caterpillars.
Using various molecular biological techniques, the responsible gene for the p locus was determined to be a novel transcription factor gene which the researchers have named apontic-like (apt-like). The group showed that varied marking patterns on the silkworm larva were produced by altered expression of the gene on the larval epidermis. In addition, it is possible that apt-like is also involved in the coloration of other caterpillars, such as swallowtail larva.
The current results are an important finding regarding the mechanisms behind divergent evolution, where a single ancestor gives rise to a diverse group of organisms, and convergent evolution, where genetically diverse organisms evolve to have similar forms. It also shows that research into patterns of caterpillar coloration is an excellent model that could have great impact on the fields of evolutionary biology and ecology.
The article can be found at: Yoda et al. (2014) The Transcription Factor Apontic-like Controls Diverse Colouration Pattern in Caterpillars.
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Source: University of Tokyo.
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