Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25953905›Full record

ReviewGenetics2015

The functional basis of wing patterning in Heliconius butterflies: the molecules behind mimicry.

Marcus R Kronforst, Riccardo Papa

Open access · greenAbstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Genetics, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 54 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
54citing papers in PubMed
8.2field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

54 citing papers in PubMed, 128 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
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  4. Seeing Through the Mimicry ofEcology and evolution · 2025
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  16. eLife · 2021
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Marcus R KronforstDepartment of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637 mkronforst@uchicago.edu.
Riccardo PapaDepartment of Biology, University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00931.
University of Chicago · USUniversity of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras · PR

Funding

Characterizing the Molecular Basis of Supergene Mimicry in ButterfliesR01GM108626 · NIGMS · UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO · PI KRONFORST, MARCUS · 2014 to 2018
$1.5M
NIGMS NIH HHS R01 GM108626
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Wing-pattern mimicry in butterflies has provided an important example of adaptation since Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace proposed evolution by natural selection >150 years ago. The neotropical butterfly genus Heliconius played a central role in the development of mimicry theory and has since been studied extensively in the context of ecology and population biology, behavior, and mimicry genetics. Heliconius species are notable for their diverse color patterns, and previous crossing experiments revealed that much of this variation is controlled by a small number of large-effect, Mendelian switch loci. Recent comparative analyses have shown that the same switch loci control wing-pattern diversity throughout the genus, and a number of these have now been positionally cloned. Using a combination of comparative genetic mapping, association tests, and gene expression analyses, variation in red wing patterning throughout Heliconius has been traced back to the action of the transcription factor optix. Similarly, the signaling ligand WntA has been shown to control variation in melanin patterning across Heliconius and other butterflies. Our understanding of the molecular basis of Heliconius mimicry is now providing important insights into a variety of additional evolutionary phenomena, including the origin of supergenes, the interplay between constraint and evolvability, the genetic basis of convergence, the potential for introgression to facilitate adaptation, the mechanisms of hybrid speciation in animals, and the process of ecological speciation.

Indexed as

Evolution, MolecularAnimalsBiological MimicryButterfliesPigmentationWings, AnimaladaptationHeliconiusmimicryspeciation

Identifiers

PMID25953905
PMCPMC4423356
OpenAlexW2165614639

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.