One gene has a large effect on Monarch Butterflies

Each and every year, one of the most iconic insects in the world, the monarch butterfly, usually migrates across North America. However, a group of researchers from the University of Chicago Medical Center, have been sequencing genomes from these distinctive orange and black winged butterfly and found a single gene that is involved with migration. In order to find the one single gene, the researchers compared the genomes of migratory butterflies against three types of non-migratory populations. They were able to find over five hundred genes that are involved with muscle and also developmental and neural function. The gene that different between the migratory and non-migratory butterflies was collagen IV α-1. It was the migratory butterflies that had a reduced level of this gene, the researchers discovered that these butterflies consumed less oxygen and had lower metabolic rates when flying that gives them the ability to fly long distances.

White and Black Monarch

Orange and Black Monarch

Apart from researching the monarch butterflies to figure out how certain butterflies migrate and others do not, the researchers also investigated the monarchs coloration. As I stated earlier, most monarchs do have orange and black wings, but a small percentage of them that are mostly located in Hawaii, have white and black wings. They are sometimes known as the Hawaiian Monarch. When conducting their research, they found that once again, a single gene has a drastic effect of the pigmentation of the monarchs. This gene codes for a protein that is of the myosin motor protein family, and it has never been implicated to the coloration of insects. The mutation in this gene for monarchs disrupts the pigment transportation to the wings, is closely related to the myosin 5a gene in mice that affects the coat color of mice.

I was interested in this article because butterflies have always intrigued me and through this article, I gained a lot of knowledge that I did not know previously. I never knew that one single gene could change a species so much and I also did not know that all monarch butterflies do not migrate during the winter. The results of the study conducted by the researchers showed a need to conserve the efforts to preserve the migrating monarchs and extend the extraordinary evolutionary history of the species as well.

Article: Genetic secrets of the monarch butterfly revealed

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