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Dryad

Genetic, developmental, and neural changes underlie evolving butterfly mate preference

Data files

Sep 29, 2023 version files 360.60 MB
Oct 22, 2024 version files 3.05 GB

Abstract

Many studies have linked genetic variation to behavior, but the links between that variation and the neural circuits that drive behavior remain elusive. We investigated the architecture of mate choice behavior in Heliconius butterflies, which use vision to identify preferred mates based on wing color patterns. We found that Heliconius cydno mate preference is associated with inter-photoreceptor inhibition of ultraviolet-sensitive photoreceptors (PRs) by long-wavelength sensitive PRs; identified a small number of genetic loci associated with preference variation; and began to link these multiple layers of behavior variation together through analyses of developmental gene networks. Our results support the idea that altered peripheral neural computations, driven by changes to underlying developmental genetic processes, can significantly and rapidly alter essential behaviors. 

This repository contains raw data, scripts, notebooks, and intermediate files that that were used to perform and analyze genome-wide association studies and to analyze RNA-seq data generated by and presented in the associated publication.