The genetics of monarch butterfly migration and warning colouration

Shuai Zhan (), Wei Zhang, Kristjan Niitepõld, Jeremy Hsu, Juan Fernández Haeger, Myron P. Zalucki, Sonia Altizer, Jacobus C. de Roode, Steven M. Reppert and Marcus R. Kronforst ()
Additional contact information
Shuai Zhan: Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Wei Zhang: University of Chicago
Kristjan Niitepõld: Stanford University
Jeremy Hsu: Stanford University
Juan Fernández Haeger: Ecología y Fisiología Vegetal, Universidad de Córdoba, 14071 Córdoba, Spain
Myron P. Zalucki: School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland
Sonia Altizer: Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia
Jacobus C. de Roode: Emory University
Steven M. Reppert: University of Massachusetts Medical School
Marcus R. Kronforst: University of Chicago

Nature, 2014, vol. 514, issue 7522, 317-321

Abstract: Abstract The monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus, is famous for its spectacular annual migration across North America, recent worldwide dispersal, and orange warning colouration. Despite decades of study and broad public interest, we know little about the genetic basis of these hallmark traits. Here we uncover the history of the monarch’s evolutionary origin and global dispersal, characterize the genes and pathways associated with migratory behaviour, and identify the discrete genetic basis of warning colouration by sequencing 101 Danaus genomes from around the globe. The results rewrite our understanding of this classic system, showing that D. plexippus was ancestrally migratory and dispersed out of North America to occupy its broad distribution. We find the strongest signatures of selection associated with migration centre on flight muscle function, resulting in greater flight efficiency among migratory monarchs, and that variation in monarch warning colouration is controlled by a single myosin gene not previously implicated in insect pigmentation.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1038/nature13812

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