New publication! Phenotypic variation in Heliconius erato crosses shows that iridescent structural colour is sex-linked and controlled by multiple genes

We have a new paper out in the Journal of the Royal Society, Interface Focus, as part of a special issue on structural colour.

Mel has used the variation in iridescent blue colour that we see in crosses between blue and black subspecies of Heliconius erato, to investigate the genetics of this trait. She shows that it is controlled by multiple genes, one or more of which are located on the Z sex-chromosome.

Juan also investigates how one aspect of scale structure (ridge spacing) varies in these crosses. He shows that closer ridge spacing produces brighter blue colour, and that this trait also appears to be controlled by several genes.

This is the first investigation of the genetics of structural colour in Heliconius. In fact, very little is known about the genetic control of structural colour in any animal. We plan to follow up this work by investigating the molecular genetics of structural colour production in these butterflies.