• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Saturday, August 2, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Biology

CCNY’s David Lohman finds Asian butterfly mimics different species as defense mechanism

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
January 14, 2021
in Biology
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

IMAGE

Credit: Photo credit: Gan Cheong Weei.

Many animal and insect species use Batesian mimicry – mimicking a poisonous species – as a defense against predators. The common palmfly, Elymnias hypermnestra (a species of satyrine butterfly), which is found throughout wide areas of tropical and subtropical Asia, adds a twist to this evolutionary strategy: the females evolved two distinct forms, either orange or dark brown, imitating two separate poisonous model species, Danaus or Euploea. The males are uniformly brown. A population group is either entirely brown (both males and females) or mixed (brown males and orange females).

City College of New York entomologist David Lohman and his collaborators studied the genome of 45 samples representing 18 subspecies across Asia to determine their evolutionary history and to establish what genes were responsible for the color variation in females. They found that neither the orange nor brown females had a common recent ancestor.

“The conventional wisdom is that once something evolves and you lose it, it’s hard to re-evolve it,” said Lohman. “That suggests something is acting like a switch, switching the gene on or off.”

The researchers found two DNA nucleotides on the Elymnias hypermnestra genome that regulate WntA, a gene associated with color patterning in butterfly species.

The WntA gene can be switched on to recreate the phenotypic shift, even where it hasn’t appeared for several generations. Reaching back into genetic history allows a species to create a variant without having to re-evolve the intermediate biochemical pathways.

“Evolution of a phenotype can be more plastic than we thought,” said Shen-Horn Yen, one of Lohman’s collaborators from the Department of Biological Sciences, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Taiwan.

The study appears in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

To Lohman, studying Elymnias hypermnestra encapsulates the study of biodiversity in its entirety. There’s a universe of variety in color, form and size and genetic variability all found in a single genus of butterfly.

###

Media Contact
Jay Mwamba
[email protected]

Original Source

https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/news/ccny-biologist-david-lohman-finds-asian-butterfly-mimics-different-species-defense-against

Tags: BiodiversityBiologyEcology/EnvironmentEntomologyNatureParasitologyZoology/Veterinary Science
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

blank

CK2–PRC2 Signal Drives Plant Cold Memory Epigenetics

August 2, 2025
blank

AI-Driven Protein Design Advances T-Cell Immunotherapy Breakthroughs

August 1, 2025

Melanthiaceae Genomes Reveal Giant Genome Evolution Secrets

August 1, 2025

“Shore Wars: New Study Tackles Oyster-Mangrove Conflicts to Boost Coastal Restoration”

August 1, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • Blind to the Burn

    Overlooked Dangers: Debunking Common Myths About Skin Cancer Risk in the U.S.

    60 shares
    Share 24 Tweet 15
  • Neuropsychiatric Risks Linked to COVID-19 Revealed

    44 shares
    Share 18 Tweet 11
  • Dr. Miriam Merad Honored with French Knighthood for Groundbreaking Contributions to Science and Medicine

    46 shares
    Share 18 Tweet 12
  • Study Reveals Beta-HPV Directly Causes Skin Cancer in Immunocompromised Individuals

    38 shares
    Share 15 Tweet 10

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Quantum Correlations Boost Dual-Comb Spectroscopy Precision

Flame Synthesis Creates Custom High-Entropy Metal Nanomaterials

Dental Stem Cells Differentiate on Biodentine Nanofibers

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.