ArticleBMC evolutionary biology2016
Evolutionary history of host use, rather than plant phylogeny, determines gene expression in a generalist butterfly.
Article in BMC evolutionary biology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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.
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.
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed.
- Resource Availability Modulates Gene Expression Across Life Stages in a Migratory Butterfly.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Article
- Evolved and Plastic Gene Expression in Adaptation of a Specialist Fly to a Novel Niche.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Analysis of Thaumatotibia leucotreta (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae: Olethreutinae) mitochondrial genomes in the context of a recent host range expansion.BMC ecology and evolution · 2023Article
- Article
- Colour Selection and Olfactory Responses ofInsects · 2023Article
- Expanding the Menu: Are Polyphagy and Gene Family Expansions Linked across Lepidoptera?Genome biology and evolution · 2022Article
- High-Quality Genome Assembly and Comprehensive Transcriptome of the Painted Lady Butterfly Vanessa cardui.Genome biology and evolution · 2021Article
- The genome sequence of the painted lady,Wellcome open research · 2021Article
- Host plant diet affects growth and induces altered gene expression and microbiome composition in the wood white (Leptidea sinapis) butterfly.Molecular ecology · 2021Article
- Nonadaptive host-use specificity in tropical armored scale insects.Ecology and evolution · 2020Article
- Differential regulation of host plant adaptive genes in Pieris butterflies exposed to a range of glucosinolate profiles in their host plants.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Genetics of lineage diversification and the evolution of host usage in the economically important wheat curl mite, Aceria tosichella Keifer, 1969.BMC evolutionary biology · 2018Article
- Variably hungry caterpillars: predictive models and foliar chemistry suggest how to eat a rainforest.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2017Article
- Polyphagy and diversification in tussock moths: Support for the oscillation hypothesis from extreme generalists.Ecology and evolution · 2017Article
- Why stay in a bad relationship? The effect of local host phenology on a generalist butterfly feeding on a low-ranked host.BMC evolutionary biology · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAlthough most insect species are specialized on one or few groups of plants, there are phytophagous insects that seem to use virtually any kind of plant as food. Understanding the nature of this ability to feed on a wide repertoire of plants is crucial for the control of pest species and for the elucidation of the macroevolutionary mechanisms of speciation and diversification of insect herbivores. Here we studied Vanessa cardui, the species with the widest diet breadth among butterflies and a potential insect pest, by comparing tissue-specific transcriptomes from caterpillars that were reared on different host plants. We tested whether the similarities of gene-expression response reflect the evolutionary history of adaptation to these plants in the Vanessa and related genera, against the null hypothesis of transcriptional profiles reflecting plant phylogenetic relatedness.
resultUsing both unsupervised and supervised methods of data analysis, we found that the tissue-specific patterns of caterpillar gene expression are better explained by the evolutionary history of adaptation of the insects to the plants than by plant phylogeny.
conclusionOur findings suggest that V. cardui may use two sets of expressed genes to achieve polyphagy, one associated with the ancestral capability to consume Rosids and Asterids, and another allowing the caterpillar to incorporate a wide range of novel host-plants.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.