The genetic path to biodiversity - Science Nation

Description: Butterflies and moths constitute 10 percent of all known biodiversity in terms of numbers of named species. Understanding the formation of color patterns has long played a central theme in understanding biology, and butterfly wing color patterns represent a prime model to explore the history, genes and mechanisms underlying wing patterning. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), developmental biologist Arnaud Martin and his team at George Washington University are using cutting-edge genomic techniques, such as CRISPR, to better understand how the rich stripes and swirls of a butterfly’s wing take their shape. “The wing patterns are used in nature for camouflage, avoiding predators, indicating toxicity and to find mates,“ says Martin. “So, we know why they are all so diverse, but now the question, I would say, is to understand how it happens, how do you create such an explosive diversity during deep evolutionary time.“ A single gene (W