Journal
NATURE
Volume 487, Issue 7405, Pages 94-98Publisher
NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/nature11041
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Funding
- Leverhulme Trust
- John Fell Fund
- Christ Church College, Oxford
- Royal Society
- NSF
- NIH
- CNRS
- ERC
- Banco de la Republica
- COLCIENCAS
- BBSRC
- BBSRC [BB/H014357/1, BB/H014268/1, BB/G00661X/1, BB/E006191/1, BB/H01439X/1, BB/G006903/1, BB/G530425/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- MRC [G0900740] Funding Source: UKRI
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council [BB/G00661X/1, BB/H014268/1, BB/H01439X/1, BB/E006191/1, BB/G530425/1, BB/G006903/1, BB/H014357/1] Funding Source: researchfish
- Medical Research Council [G0900740] Funding Source: researchfish
- Direct For Biological Sciences
- Division Of Environmental Biology [1020136, 1020355, 844244, 1316037] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Direct For Biological Sciences
- Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems [1305686] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Direct For Biological Sciences
- Div Of Biological Infrastructure [0959864, 0905698] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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The evolutionary importance of hybridization and introgression has long been debated(1). Hybrids are usually rare and unfit, but even infrequent hybridization can aid adaptation by transferring beneficial traits between species. Here we use genomic tools to investigate introgression in Heliconius, a rapidly radiating genus of neotropical butterflies widely used in studies of ecology, behaviour, mimicry and speciation(2-5). We sequenced the genome of Heliconius melpomene and compared it with other taxa to investigate chromosomal evolution in Lepidoptera and gene flow among multiple Heliconius species and races. Among 12,669 predicted genes, biologically important expansions of families of chemosensory and Hox genes are particularly noteworthy. Chromosomal organization has remained broadly conserved since the Cretaceous period, when butterflies split from the Bombyx (silkmoth) lineage. Using genomic resequencing, we show hybrid exchange of genes between three co-mimics, Heliconius melpomene, Heliconius timareta and Heliconius elevatus, especially at two genomic regions that control mimicry pattern. We infer that closely related Heliconius species exchange protective colour-pattern genes promiscuously, implying that hybridization has an important role in adaptive radiation.
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