scholarly journals Structural color in Junonia butterflies evolves by tuning scale lamina thickness

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel C. Thayer ◽  
Frances I. Allen ◽  
Nipam H. Patel
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Regulation ◽  
One Dimension ◽  
Structural Color ◽  
Thickness Variation ◽  
Lamina Thickness ◽  
Blue Wing ◽  
Color Shift ◽  
Intrinsic Component ◽  
Scatter Light ◽  
Shared Genetic

AbstractIn diverse organisms, nanostructures that coherently scatter light create structural color, but how such structures are built remains mysterious. We investigate the evolution and genetic regulation of butterfly scale laminae, which are simple photonic nanostructures. In a lineage of buckeye butterflies artificially selected for blue wing color, we found that thickened laminae caused a color shift from brown to blue. Deletion of the optix wing patterning gene also altered color via lamina thickening, revealing shared genetic regulation of pigments and lamina thickness. Finally, we show how lamina thickness variation contributes to the color diversity that distinguishes sexes and species throughout the genus Junonia. Thus, quantitatively tuning one dimension of scale architecture facilitates both the microevolution and macroevolution of a broad spectrum of hues. Because the lamina is an intrinsic component of typical butterfly scales, our findings suggest that tuning lamina thickness is a readily accessible mechanism to create structural color across the Lepidoptera.

scholarly journals Structural color in Junonia butterflies evolves by tuning scale lamina thickness

eLife ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel C Thayer ◽  
Frances I Allen ◽  
Nipam H Patel
Keyword(s):  
Broad Spectrum ◽  
Genetic Regulation ◽  
One Dimension ◽  
Structural Color ◽  
Thickness Variation ◽  
Lamina Thickness ◽  
Blue Wing ◽  
Color Shift ◽  
Intrinsic Component ◽  
Scatter Light

In diverse organisms, nanostructures that coherently scatter light create structural color, but how such structures are built remains mysterious. We investigate the evolution and genetic regulation of butterfly scale laminae, which are simple photonic nanostructures. In a lineage of buckeye butterflies artificially selected for blue wing color, we found that thickened laminae caused a color shift from brown to blue. Deletion of the optix patterning gene also altered color via lamina thickening, revealing shared regulation of pigments and lamina thickness. Finally, we show how lamina thickness variation contributes to the color diversity that distinguishes sexes and species throughout the genus Junonia. Thus, quantitatively tuning one dimension of scale architecture facilitates both the microevolution and macroevolution of a broad spectrum of hues. Because the lamina is an intrinsic component of typical butterfly scales, our findings suggest that tuning lamina thickness is an available mechanism to create structural color across the Lepidoptera.

scholarly journals Genetic analysis of blood molecular phenotypes reveals regulatory networks affecting complex traits: a DIRECT study.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Viñuela ◽  
Andrew A Brown ◽  
Juan Fernandez ◽  
Mun-gwan Hong ◽  
Caroline A Brorsson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Complex Traits ◽  
Regulatory Networks ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Genetic Regulation ◽  
Underlying Mechanism ◽  
Molecular Networks ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Molecular Phenotypes ◽  
Shared Genetic

Genetic variants identified by genome-wide association studies can contribute to disease risk by altering the production and abundance of mRNA, proteins and other molecules. However, the interplay between molecular intermediaries that define the pathway from genetic variation to disease is not well understood. Here, we evaluated the shared genetic regulation of mRNA molecules, proteins and metabolites derived from whole blood from 3,029 human donors. We find abundant allelic heterogeneity, where multiple variants regulate a particular molecular phenotype, and pleiotropy, where a single variant was associated with multiple molecular phenotypes over multiple genomic regions. We find varying proportions of shared genetic regulation across phenotypes, highest between expression and proteins (66.6%). We were able to recapitulate a substantial proportion of gene expression genetic regulation in a diverse set of 44 tissues, with a median of 88% shared associations for blood expression and 22.3% for plasma proteins. Finally, the genetic and molecular associations were represented in networks including 2,828 known GWAS variants. One sub-network shows the trans relationship between rs149007767 and RTEN, and identifies GRB10 and IKZF1 as candidates mediating genes. Our work provides a roadmap to understanding molecular networks and deriving the underlying mechanism of action of GWAS variants across different molecular phenotypes.

scholarly journals Comorbidity of asthma and hypertension may be mediated by shared genetic dysregulation and drug side effects

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Zolotareva ◽  
Olga V. Saik ◽  
Cassandra Königs ◽  
Elena Yu. Bragina ◽  
Irina A. Goncharova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Treatment Plan ◽  
Genetic Regulation ◽  
Interaction Network ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Molecular Evidence ◽  
Drug Side Effects ◽  
Disease Mechanisms ◽  
Appropriate Treatment ◽  
Shared Genetic

Abstract Asthma and hypertension are complex diseases coinciding more frequently than expected by chance. Unraveling the mechanisms of comorbidity of asthma and hypertension is necessary for choosing the most appropriate treatment plan for patients with this comorbidity. Since both diseases have a strong genetic component in this article we aimed to find and study genes simultaneously associated with asthma and hypertension. We identified 330 shared genes and found that they form six modules on the interaction network. A strong overlap between genes associated with asthma and hypertension was found on the level of eQTL regulated genes and between targets of drugs relevant for asthma and hypertension. This suggests that the phenomenon of comorbidity of asthma and hypertension may be explained by altered genetic regulation or result from drug side effects. In this work we also demonstrate that not only drug indications but also contraindications provide an important source of molecular evidence helpful to uncover disease mechanisms. These findings give a clue to the possible mechanisms of comorbidity and highlight the direction for future research.

scholarly journals Selective IT neurons are selective along many dimensions

2016 ◽  
Vol 115 (3) ◽  
pp. 1512-1520 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kalathupiriyan A. Zhivago ◽  
S. P. Arun
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Shape Selectivity ◽  
One Dimension ◽  
Position And Orientation ◽  
Intrinsic Component

Our visual abilities are unsurpassed because of a sophisticated code for objects located in the inferior temporal (IT) cortex. This code has remained a mystery because IT neurons show extremely diverse shape selectivity with no apparent organizing principle. Here, we show that there is an intrinsic component to selectivity in IT neurons. We tested IT neurons on distinct shapes and their parametric variations and asked whether neurons selective along one dimension were also selective along others. Selective neurons responded to fewer shapes and were narrowly tuned to local variations of these shapes, both along arbitrary morph lines and along variations in size, position, or orientation. For a subset of neurons, selective neurons were selective for both shape and texture. Finally, selective neurons were also more invariant in that they preserved their shape preferences across changes in size, position, and orientation. These observations indicate that there is an intrinsic constraint on the sharpness of tuning for the features coded by each IT neuron, making it always sharply tuned or always broadly tuned along all dimensions. We speculate that this may be an organizing principle throughout visual cortex.

Reconstruction of Objects from their Projections Using Orthogonal Functions

1973 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 268-269
Author(s):  
Elrnar Zeitler
Keyword(s):  
Unit Area ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
One Dimension ◽  
Spatial Density ◽  
Dimensional Representation ◽  
Orthogonal Functions ◽  
Object A ◽  
Plane Normal ◽  
Dimensional Object ◽  
Spatial Density Distribution

Considering any finite three-dimensional object, a “projection” is here defined as a two-dimensional representation of the object's mass per unit area on a plane normal to a given projection axis, here taken as they-axis. Since the object can be seen as being built from parallel, thin slices, the relation between object structure and its projection can be reduced by one dimension. It is assumed that an electron microscope equipped with a tilting stage records the projectionWhere the object has a spatial density distribution p(r,ϕ) within a limiting radius taken to be unity, and the stage is tilted by an angle 9 with respect to the x-axis of the recording plane.

Quantitative Diameter Measurements of Chromatin and TMV Fibers in the Freeze-Dried State

1988 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 170-171
Author(s):  
B. D. Athey ◽  
A. L. Stout ◽  
M. F. Smith ◽  
J. P. Langmore
Keyword(s):  
Reliable Method ◽  
Fiber Diameter ◽  
Quantitative Agreement ◽  
One Dimension ◽  
Fiber Axis ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Fiber Density ◽  
Variable Diameter ◽  
Freeze Dried ◽  
Expected Values

Although there is general agreement that Inactive chromosome fibers consist of helically packed nucleosomes, the pattern of packing is still undetermined. Only one of the proposed models, the crossed-linker model, predicts a variable diameter dependent on the length of DNA between nucleosomes. Measurements of the fiber diameter of negatively-stained and frozen- hydrated- chromatin from Thyone sperm (87bp linker) and Necturus erythrocytes (48bp linker) have been previously reported from this laboratory. We now introduce a more reliable method of measuring the diameters of electron images of fibrous objects. The procedure uses a modified version of the computer program TOTAL, which takes a two-dimensional projection of the fiber density (represented by the micrograph itself) and projects it down the fiber axis onto one dimension. We illustrate this method using high contrast, in-focus STEM images of TMV and chromatin from Thyone and Necturus. The measured diameters are in quantitative agreement with the expected values for the crossed-linker model for chromatin structure

Some Quantification Problems in Parallel EELS Images

1990 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 36-37
Author(s):  
G. Botton ◽  
G. L’Espérance ◽  
M.D. Ball ◽  
C.E. Gallerneault
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscope ◽  
Imaging System ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope ◽  
Acquisition Time ◽  
Thickness Variation ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Distribution Of Elements ◽  
Scanning Transmission ◽  
Present Distribution

The recently developed parallel electron energy loss spectrometers (PEELS) have led to a significant reduction in spectrum acquisition time making EELS more useful in many applications in material science. Dwell times as short as 50 msec per spectrum with a PEELS coupled to a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM), can make quantitative EEL images accessible. These images would present distribution of elements with the high spatial resolution inherent to EELS. The aim of this paper is to briefly investigate the effect of acquisition time per pixel on the signal to noise ratio (SNR), the effect of thickness variation and crystallography and finally the energy stability of spectra when acquired in the scanning mode during long periods of time.The configuration of the imaging system is the following: a Gatan PEELS is coupled to a CM30 (TEM/STEM) electron microscope, the control of the spectrometer and microscope is performed through a LINK AN10-85S MCA which is interfaced to a IBM RT 125 (running under AIX) via a DR11W line.

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