The Genomic Basis of Color Pattern Polymorphism in the Harlequin Ladybird

Current Biology : CB
Mathieu GautierBenjamin Prud'homme

Abstract

Many animal species comprise discrete phenotypic forms. A common example in natural populations of insects is the occurrence of different color patterns, which has motivated a rich body of ecological and genetic research [1-6]. The occurrence of dark, i.e., melanic, forms displaying discrete color patterns is found across multiple taxa, but the underlying genomic basis remains poorly characterized. In numerous ladybird species (Coccinellidae), the spatial arrangement of black and red patches on adult elytra varies wildly within species, forming strikingly different complex color patterns [7, 8]. In the harlequin ladybird, Harmonia axyridis, more than 200 distinct color forms have been described, which classic genetic studies suggest result from allelic variation at a single, unknown, locus [9, 10]. Here, we combined whole-genome sequencing, population-based genome-wide association studies, gene expression, and functional analyses to establish that the transcription factor Pannier controls melanic pattern polymorphism in H. axyridis. We show that pannier is necessary for the formation of melanic elements on the elytra. Allelic variation in pannier leads to protein expression in distinct domains on the elytra and thus determines ...Continue Reading

Citations

Jan 16, 2019·Development, Growth & Differentiation·Toshiya Ando, Teruyuki Niimi
May 10, 2020·Nature Reviews. Genetics·Anna Orteu, Chris D Jiggins
Mar 22, 2020·International Journal of Molecular Sciences·Da XiaoSu Wang
Feb 4, 2021·Molecular Ecology Resources·Sara Guirao-Rico, Josefa González
Mar 19, 2021·Annals of the Entomological Society of America·Hongran LiJohn J Obrycki
Sep 22, 2019·Current Opinion in Insect Science·Heather M Hines, Sarthok Rasique Rahman
Mar 22, 2021·Current Opinion in Genetics & Development·Teruyuki Niimi, Toshiya Ando
Aug 28, 2021·Animals : an Open Access Journal From MDPI·Darija LemicHugo A Benítez

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Datasets Mentioned

BETA
PRJNA474099
PRJEB13023

Methods Mentioned

BETA
Illumina sequencing
chip
PCR
14
Pool-Seq
RNA-seq

Software Mentioned

VarScan mpileup2cns
BLAST +
Artemis Comparison Tool ( ATC )
samtools
R package poolfstats
PBJelly
Mummer
Pool
nucmer
Albacore

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