According to new research, butterfly wing patterns have a basic plan to them, which is manipulated by non-coding regulatory DNA to create the diversity of wings seen in different species. A new study explains how DNA that sits between genes – called ‘junk’ DNA or non-coding regulatory DNA – accom
Wings of the painted lady butterfly – Vanessa cardui, modified by deletion of non-coding DNA sequence. Credit: Anyi Mazo-Vargas
“We see that there’s a very conserved group of switches [non-coding DNA] that are working in different positions and are activated and driving the gene,” Mazo-Vargas said.in Reed’s lab has uncovered key color pattern genes: one that controls stripes and another that controls color and iridescence in butterfly wings. When the researchers disabled the Optix gene, the wings appeared black, and when the WntA gene was deleted, stripe patterns disappeared.
This study focused on the effect of non-coding DNA on the WntA gene. Specifically, the researchers ran experiments on 46 of these non-coding elements in five species of nymphalid butterflies, which is the largest family of butterflies. A monarch butterfly mutant that was generated using the gene-editing tool CRISPR/cas9 to delete a non-coding DNA sequence, also known as “junk DNA,” that regulates a gene that controls wing patterning. Credit: Anyi Mazo-Vargas
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