Molecular mechanisms of color pattern foramtion in mimicry controlled by supergene

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15H05778
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (S)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Evolutionary biology
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Fujiwara Haruhiko 東京大学, 大学院新領域創成科学研究科, 教授 (40183933)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-05-29 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: スーパージーン / 進化遺伝 / ベイツ型擬態 / シロオビアゲハ / ナガサキアゲハ / 比較ゲノム / 逆位 / 紋様形成

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This pioneering project has revealed the new molecular mechanisms of the adjacent gene group “supergene” that controls complex adaptive traits. We clarified the structure and function of supergene, which controls the Batesian mimicry of the swallowtail butterfly Papilio polytes and its closely related species Papilio memnon. The recombination in the supergene locus was suppressed by chromosomal inversion in the former, but by structural diversity in the later, suggesting that the mimicry loci of both species may have evolved by parallel evolution. It was also shown that the mimicry traits of both species are regulated mainly by a dsx gene in the mimicry supergene.

Free Research Field

進化生物学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

スーパージーンの概念は約100年前から提唱されているが、その実態は知られてこなかった。本研究では、スーパージーンを同定する新規手法を確立し、逆位を持たない予想外のスーパージーン、2種のアゲハの擬態の平行進化、dsx遺伝子の擬態形質の制御機構を他に先んじて明らかにした。本成果は、スーパージーンの新たなメカニズムを呈示した意味で画期的で、遺伝学、進化学、生態学などの学術分野に大きな影響を与える可能性が高い。