Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27087840›Full record

ArticleEvolutionary applications2016

The status of supergenes in the 21st century: recombination suppression in Batesian mimicry and sex chromosomes and other complex adaptations.

Deborah Charlesworth

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Evolutionary applications, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 78 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
78citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
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

78 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Genome Evolution in Social Insects.Genome biology and evolution · 2026
    Review
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Multiple Origins of a Sex Ratio Supergene in Formica Ants.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026
    Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
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  12. Article
  13. Functional genetic elements of a butterfly mimicry supergene.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
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18 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

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

1 author.

Deborah CharlesworthInstitute of Evolutionary Biology University of Edinburgh Edinburgh UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

I review theoretical models for the evolution of supergenes in the cases of Batesian mimicry in butterflies, distylous plants and sex chromosomes. For each of these systems, I outline the genetic evidence that led to the proposal that they involve multiple genes that interact during 'complex adaptations', and at which the mutations involved are not unconditionally advantageous, but show advantages that trade-off against some disadvantages. I describe recent molecular genetic studies of these systems and questions they raise about the evolution of suppressed recombination. Nonrecombining regions of sex chromosomes have long been known, but it is not yet fully understood why recombination suppression repeatedly evolved in systems in distantly related taxa, but does not always evolve. Recent studies of distylous plants are tending to support the existence of recombination-suppressed genome regions, which may include modest numbers of genes and resemble recently evolved sex-linked regions. For Batesian mimicry, however, molecular genetic work in two butterfly species suggests a new supergene scenario, with a single gene mutating to produce initial adaptive phenotypes, perhaps followed by modifiers specifically refining and perfecting the new phenotype.

Indexed as

Batesian mimicrydistylyrecombination suppressionsex chromosomessex‐limited expression

Identifiers

PMID27087840
PMCPMC4780387

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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.