Mimetic systems allow us to address the question of whether the same genes control similar phenotypes in different species. Although widespread parallels have been found for major effect loci, much less is known about genes that control quantitative trait variation. In this study, we identify and compare the loci that control subtle changes in the size and shape of forewing pattern elements in two Heliconius butterfly co‐mimics. We use quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis with a multivariate phenotyping approach to map the variation in red pattern elements across the whole forewing surface of Heliconius erato and Heliconius melpomene. These results are compared with a QTL analysis of univariate trait changes, and show that our resolution for identifying small effect loci is somewhat improved with the multivariate approach, but also that different loci are detected with these different approaches. QTL likely corresponding to the known patterning gene optix were found in both species but otherwise, a remarkably low level of genetic parallelism was found. This lack of similarity indicates that the genetic basis of convergent traits may not be as predictable as assumed from studies that focus solely on Mendelian traits.

中文翻译：

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有限的遗传相似性是拟态蝴蝶数量模式变异趋同进化的基础

模拟系统使我们能够解决相同基因是否控制不同物种的相似表型的问题。尽管已发现主要效应位点的广泛相似之处，但对控制数量性状变异的基因知之甚少。在这项研究中，我们识别并比较了控制两个 Heliconius 蝴蝶模拟中前翅图案元素大小和形状细微变化的位点。我们使用数量性状基因座 (QTL) 分析和多变量表型方法来绘制 Heliconius erato 和 Heliconius melpomene 整个前翅表面的红色图案元素的变化。这些结果与单变量性状变化的 QTL 分析进行了比较，并表明我们识别小效应位点的分辨率通过多变量方法有所提高，而且还可以通过这些不同的方法检测到不同的位点。在两个物种中都发现了可能对应于已知模式基因 optix 的 QTL，但除此之外，发现了非常低水平的遗传平行性。这种缺乏相似性表明，趋同性状的遗传基础可能不像仅关注孟德尔性状的研究所假设的那样可预测。