Eyespot color pattern formation on butterfly wings is sensitive to physical damage and physical distortion as well as physical contact with materials on the surface of wing epithelial tissue at the pupal stage. Contact-mediated eyespot color pattern changes may imply a developmental role of the extracellular matrix in morphogenic signal propagation. Here, we examined eyespot responses to various contact materials, focusing on the hindwing posterior eyespots of the blue pansy butterfly, Junonia orithya. Contact with various materials, including both nonbiological and biological materials, induced eyespot enlargement, reduction, or no change in eyespot size, and each material was characterized by a unique response profile. For example, silicone glassine paper almost always induced a considerable reduction, while glass plates most frequently induced enlargement, and plastic plates generally produced no change. The biological materials tested here (fibronectin, polylysine, collagen type I, and gelatin) resulted in various responses, but polylysine induced more cases of enlargement, similar to glass plates. The response profile of the materials was not readily predictable from the chemical composition of the materials but was significantly correlated with the water contact angle (water repellency) of the material surface, suggesting that the surface physical chemistry of materials is a determinant of eyespot size. When the proximal side of a prospective eyespot was covered with a size-reducing material (silicone glassine paper) and the distal side and the organizer were covered with a material that rarely induced size reduction (plastic film), the proximal side of the eyespot was reduced in size in comparison with the distal side, suggesting that signal propagation but not organizer activity was inhibited by silicone glassine paper. These results suggest that physical contact with an appropriate hydrophobic surface is required for morphogenic signals from organizers to propagate normally. The binding of the apical surface of the epithelium with an opposing surface may provide mechanical support for signal propagation. In addition to conventional molecular morphogens, there is a possibility that mechanical distortion of the epithelium that is propagated mechanically serves as a nonmolecular morphogen to induce subsequent molecular changes, in accordance with the distortion hypothesis for butterfly wing color pattern formation.

中文翻译：

---

蝴蝶眼斑颜色图案的形成需要蛹翅上皮与细胞外物质的物理接触以进行形态发生信号传播。


蝴蝶翅膀上的眼点颜色图案的形成对物理损伤和物理变形以及与蛹期翅膀上皮组织表面材料的物理接触敏感。接触介导的眼斑颜色模式变化可能意味着细胞外基质在形态发生信号传播中的发育作用。在这里，我们检查了对各种接触材料的眼点反应，重点关注蓝色堇蝴蝶 Junonia orithya 的后翅后眼点。与各种材料（包括非生物材料和生物材料）接触，会引起眼点扩大、缩小或眼点大小无变化，并且每种材料都具有独特的响应曲线。例如，有机硅玻璃纸几乎总是引起相当大的减小，而玻璃板最常引起放大，而塑料板通常不产生变化。这里测试的生物材料（纤连蛋白、聚赖氨酸、I 型胶原蛋白和明胶）导致了各种反应，但聚赖氨酸引起了更多的肿大病例，类似于玻璃板。材料的响应曲线不容易从材料的化学成分中预测，但与材料表面的水接触角（防水性）显着相关，这表明材料的表面物理化学是眼点尺寸的决定因素。 当预期眼点的近侧覆盖有尺寸减小的材料（硅树脂玻璃纸）并且远侧和组织器覆盖有很少引起尺寸减小的材料（塑料薄膜）时，眼点的近侧被与远端相比，其尺寸减小，表明硅树脂玻璃纸抑制了信号传播，但没有抑制组织者活动。这些结果表明，组织者的形态发生信号需要与适当的疏水表面进行物理接触才能正常传播。上皮顶面与相对表面的结合可为信号传播提供机械支持。除了传统的分子形态发生素之外，根据蝴蝶翅膀颜色图案形成的畸变假说，机械传播的上皮的机械变形也有可能充当非分子形态发生素来诱导随后的分子变化。