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Ultraviolet exposure has an epigenetic effect on a Batesian mimetic trait in the butterfly Papilio polytes

Wing polymorphism of butterflies provides a good system in which to study adaptation. The Asian Batesian mimic butterfly Papilio polytes has unmelanized, putative mimetic red spots on its black hind wings. The size of those red spots is non-heritable but it is highly polymorphic, the adaptive signif...

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Autores principales: Katoh, Mitsuho, Tatsuta, Haruki, Tsuji, Kazuki
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6128867/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30194364
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-31732-8
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author Katoh, Mitsuho
Tatsuta, Haruki
Tsuji, Kazuki
author_facet Katoh, Mitsuho
Tatsuta, Haruki
Tsuji, Kazuki
author_sort Katoh, Mitsuho
collection PubMed
description Wing polymorphism of butterflies provides a good system in which to study adaptation. The Asian Batesian mimic butterfly Papilio polytes has unmelanized, putative mimetic red spots on its black hind wings. The size of those red spots is non-heritable but it is highly polymorphic, the adaptive significance of which is unknown. We hypothesized that under strong ultraviolet (UV) irradiation, butterflies develop a wider melanized black area to protect the wings from UV damage, and as a result express smaller mimetic red spots. Our field survey on Okinawa Island revealed a negative relationship between the sizes of the red spot and the black area in the wings. The size varied seasonally and was negatively correlated with the intensity of solar UV radiation at the time of capture. Laboratory experiments revealed that the size was reduced by strong UV irradiation not only of the eggs and larvae, but also of their mothers through a putative epigenetic mechanism. The flexible phenotypic expression of the red spots in P. polytes suggests a trade-off between protection against UV damage and predation avoidance, and provides a new insight into the evolution of Batesian mimicry.
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spelling pubmed-61288672018-09-10 Ultraviolet exposure has an epigenetic effect on a Batesian mimetic trait in the butterfly Papilio polytes Katoh, Mitsuho Tatsuta, Haruki Tsuji, Kazuki Sci Rep Article Wing polymorphism of butterflies provides a good system in which to study adaptation. The Asian Batesian mimic butterfly Papilio polytes has unmelanized, putative mimetic red spots on its black hind wings. The size of those red spots is non-heritable but it is highly polymorphic, the adaptive significance of which is unknown. We hypothesized that under strong ultraviolet (UV) irradiation, butterflies develop a wider melanized black area to protect the wings from UV damage, and as a result express smaller mimetic red spots. Our field survey on Okinawa Island revealed a negative relationship between the sizes of the red spot and the black area in the wings. The size varied seasonally and was negatively correlated with the intensity of solar UV radiation at the time of capture. Laboratory experiments revealed that the size was reduced by strong UV irradiation not only of the eggs and larvae, but also of their mothers through a putative epigenetic mechanism. The flexible phenotypic expression of the red spots in P. polytes suggests a trade-off between protection against UV damage and predation avoidance, and provides a new insight into the evolution of Batesian mimicry. Nature Publishing Group UK 2018-09-07 /pmc/articles/PMC6128867/ /pubmed/30194364 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-31732-8 Text en © The Author(s) 2018 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Article
Katoh, Mitsuho
Tatsuta, Haruki
Tsuji, Kazuki
Ultraviolet exposure has an epigenetic effect on a Batesian mimetic trait in the butterfly Papilio polytes
title Ultraviolet exposure has an epigenetic effect on a Batesian mimetic trait in the butterfly Papilio polytes
title_full Ultraviolet exposure has an epigenetic effect on a Batesian mimetic trait in the butterfly Papilio polytes
title_fullStr Ultraviolet exposure has an epigenetic effect on a Batesian mimetic trait in the butterfly Papilio polytes
title_full_unstemmed Ultraviolet exposure has an epigenetic effect on a Batesian mimetic trait in the butterfly Papilio polytes
title_short Ultraviolet exposure has an epigenetic effect on a Batesian mimetic trait in the butterfly Papilio polytes
title_sort ultraviolet exposure has an epigenetic effect on a batesian mimetic trait in the butterfly papilio polytes
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6128867/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30194364
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-31732-8
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