Heliconius butterflies live in America, from South America to southern South America. Although not able to father offspring together, the H. melpomene and H. erato have evolved to perfectly imitate each other.

These delicate butterflies have splashes of red and yellow on black wings, warning the birds that are extremely unpleasant taste and contain toxins.

Scientists have studied these butterflies since the 1860s as a classic example of evolution in action, but only now modern sequencing technology is beginning to elucidate the underlying genetics.

The team of researchers from British and U.S. universities, led from the Cambridge, has been looking for the genes responsible for the color patterns on the wings of those butterflies, and the answer to the question of whether the same genes in two different species are the cause of mimicry.

Because there are thousands of genes in the genome of butterflies, many scientists believed it was unlikely to intervene the same genes in these patterns of color, but the new study results suggest that it is the same genes. In addition, regions of the genome associated with the color patterns of the wings are very small, definable as “hot spots”. The existence of these small active areas illustrates that genetic evolution follows fairly predictable and narrow channels.

The results of this research imply that despite the many thousands of genes in the genome, only one or two are helpful in changing this pattern of color.

“It looks as if evolution could concentrate on very small regions of the genome, or critical points, while the rest does not change much,” Chris Jiggins assess the Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge.
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Source:AMAZINGS