Cell Zhang Wei's research group used the genus Butterfly dead leaf as an example to reveal the evolution of mountain biodiversity and...

Biodiversity includes species diversity, genetic diversity and ecosystem diversity, and its genesis is one

Figure 1 Screenshot of the article

On August 2, 2022, the Zhang Wei Research Group of the School of Life Sciences of Peking University, the State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, and the Peking University-Tsinghua Joint Center for Life Sciences published a research paper entitled "The evolution and diversification of oakleaf butterflies" online in cell magazine in the form of a cover article

By collecting 13 geographical population samples from the genus Butterfly and other butterfly samples, a total of 105 butterfly specimens from 21 genera were resequenced in this study, tracing the origin of

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In order to analyze the genetic mechanism of the leaf polymorphisms of the ventral surface of the wing of the dead leaf butterfly, this study focused on the Chinese subspecies of the dead leaf butterfly, based on the second-generation genome resequencing data of 78 individual samples, and conducted genome-wide association analysis of 10 leaf-shape phenotypes, combined with the evidence obtained from genome de novo assembly, gene expression, chromatin interaction analysis and CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing, this study determined that the polymorphism of leaf shape mimic phenotypes was regulated by cortex gene.

Figure 4 The cortex single gene controls leaf mimic polymorphism

Figure 5 The absence of cortex affects leaf mimic pattern formation

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In summary, this study focuses on the genus Butterfly, deeply analyzes the origin and evolution of species diversity of Butterfly butterfly, provides genetic evidence for the generation and maintenance mechanism of leaf shape mimetic polymorphism of Butterfly genus, integrates the research ideas of macro evolution and micro evolution, and provides a new perspective and example

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This study is based on the State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Peking University-Tsinghua Joint Center for Life Sciences, Peking University Ecological Research Center, Peking University Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, and Researcher Wei Zhang of Peking University School of Life Sciences/Peking University-Tsinghua Joint Center for Life Sciences as the corresponding author of this article.

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Beijing Municipal Natural Science Foundation, the Peking University-Qidong Innovation Fund, the Peking University-Tsinghua Joint Center for Life Sciences, and the State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Genetic Research.

Link to the original article:Rahbek, C.

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