ArticleNature2016
The gene cortex controls mimicry and crypsis in butterflies and moths.
Article in Nature, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 112 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
112 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 266 citations in OpenAlex.
- Type Genomics: A Framework for Integrating Genomic Data into Biodiversity and Taxonomic Research.Systematic biology · 2025Guideline
- Speciation through chromosomal fusion and fission in Lepidoptera.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2020Pooled it
- Independent Major-Effect Loci and Limited Trait Associations Characterize Warning Colour Variation Across Sexes and Life Stages in the Wood Tiger Moth (Arctia plantaginis).Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Rewiring of two conserved signalling hubs into one axis underlies convergent female-specific wing regression in insects.Nature ecology & evolution · 2026Article
- Genetic parallelism underpins convergent mimicry coloration in Lepidoptera across 120 million years of evolution.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- Evolutionary genomic basis of mimicry diversity of Epicopeiidae moths.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Article
- The genetics and evolution of moth melanism in the absence of strong natural selection.National science review · 2026Article
- A microRNA is the effector gene of a classic evolutionary hotspot locus.Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2024Article
- Hidden in plain sight: (Re)definition of a key lepidopteran color patterning gene.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- TheProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- A long noncoding RNA at theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- The molecular basis of phenotypic evolution: beyond the usual suspects.Trends in genetics : TIG · 2024Review
- Article
- Genome-wide analysis of histone modifications can contribute to the identification of candidate cis-regulatory regions in the threespine stickleback fish.BMC genomics · 2024Article
- A micro-RNA is the effector gene of a classic evolutionary hotspot locus.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Adaptive introgression of a visual preference gene.Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2024Article
- Transposable Element Insertions Are Associated with Batesian Mimicry in the Pantropical Butterfly Hypolimnas misippus.Molecular biology and evolution · 2024Article
- Major patterns in the introgression history ofeLife · 2023Article
- Fine mapping of the Cepaea nemoralis shell colour and mid-banded loci using a high-density linkage map.Heredity · 2023Article
52 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
19 authors at 12 institutions in 6 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The wing patterns of butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) are diverse and striking examples of evolutionary diversification by natural selection. Lepidopteran wing colour patterns are a key innovation, consisting of arrays of coloured scales. We still lack a general understanding of how these patterns are controlled and whether this control shows any commonality across the 160,000 moth and 17,000 butterfly species. Here, we use fine-scale mapping with population genomics and gene expression analyses to identify a gene, cortex, that regulates pattern switches in multiple species across the mimetic radiation in Heliconius butterflies. cortex belongs to a fast-evolving subfamily of the otherwise highly conserved fizzy family of cell-cycle regulators, suggesting that it probably regulates pigmentation patterning by regulating scale cell development. In parallel with findings in the peppered moth (Biston betularia), our results suggest that this mechanism is common within Lepidoptera and that cortex has become a major target for natural selection acting on colour and pattern variation in this group of insects.
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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.