Background Many traits evolve by cis-regulatory modification, by which changes to noncoding sequences affect the binding affinity for available transcription factors and thus modify the expression profile of genes. Multiple examples of cis-regulatory evolution have been described at pattern switch genes responsible for butterfly wing pattern polymorphism, including in the diverse neotropical genus Heliconius, but the identities of the factors that can regulate these switch genes have not been identified. Results We investigated the spatial transcriptomic landscape across the wings of three closely related butterfly species, two of which have a convergently evolved co-mimetic pattern and the other having a divergent pattern. We identified candidate factors for regulating the expression of wing patterning genes, including transcription factors with a conserved expression profile in all three species, and others, including both transcription factors and Wnt pathway genes, with markedly different profiles in each of the three species. We verified the conserved expression profile of the transcription factor homothorax by immunofluorescence and showed that its expression profile strongly correlates with that of the selector gene optix in butterflies with the Amazonian forewing pattern element 'dennis.' Conclusion Here we show that, in addition to factors with conserved expression profiles like homothorax, there are also a variety of transcription factors and signaling pathway components that appear to vary in their expression profiles between closely related butterfly species, highlighting the importance of genome-wide regulatory evolution between species.

中文翻译：

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heliconiine 蝴蝶翅膀基因调控景观的保守性和灵活性。

背景 许多性状是通过顺式调控修饰进化的，非编码序列的变化会影响对可用转录因子的结合亲和力，从而改变基因的表达谱。已经在负责蝴蝶翅膀模式多态性的模式开关基因中描述了多个顺式调节进化的例子，包括在多样化的新热带属 Heliconius 中，但尚未确定可以调节这些开关基因的因子的身份。结果 我们调查了三种密切相关的蝴蝶物种翅膀上的空间转录组学景观，其中两种具有趋同进化的共同模拟模式，另一种具有不同的模式。我们确定了调节机翼模式基因表达的候选因子，包括在所有三个物种中具有保守表达谱的转录因子，以及包括转录因子和 Wnt 途径基因在内的其他转录因子，在这三个物种中的每一个中具有明显不同的谱。我们通过免疫荧光验证了转录因子homothorax 的保守表达谱，并表明其表达谱与具有亚马逊前翅模式元素'dennis'的蝴蝶中选择基因 optix 的表达谱密切相关。结论 在这里，我们表明，除了具有保守表达谱的因子（如同胸）外，还有多种转录因子和信号通路成分在密切相关的蝴蝶物种之间的表达谱似乎有所不同，