I.

II.

Introduction
A. Background information about the subject
1. What is the history of the subject?
The investigation shows the importance of the modifications found on
Amazonian Heliconius butterflies. Even thought its most likely possible
to identify butterflies just by looking at the patterns, they present specific
characteristics that vary widely.
2. The investigation shows that the regions of non-coding DNA which
regulate the transcription of nearby genes called cis-regulatory causes a
variation of the gene Optix , which it is the gene that produces the red
patches on the butterflies wings.
B. Why did the researchers choose this subject?
1. Researchers choose this subject because they believe that they can modify
the genes by creating a new mechanism where the result will be an
evolutionary novelty.
2. Researchers believe that these new modifications on the gene expression
wont affect the functionality of the specie. Our work suggests a new
mechanism for generating evolutionary novelty, by shuffling these
genetics switches among lineages and whiting species (Wallbank et al. 2)
C. Why did the scientists do this research? What information are the researchers
trying to gather?
1. Researchers are trying to gather information that proves how the existing
genetic switches can be shuffle and shared between species.
2. Are they trying to discover how something works, prove a process, etc.?
If they are able to study the diversity of their genetic changes, most likely
they will understand the complexity of the evolutionary novelty, which is
the change of patterns on their wings.
3. Why is this topic of value?
The benefit of this research is mainly beneficial to the study of science,
but with studies like this one, researchers can find more answers about
evolution by studying the exchange of genes.
4. What was the researchers hypothesis? If they did not have a hypothesis,
what were they trying to prove/show?
The researchers were suggesting that they will be able to test with genetic
data how optix (the red patches gene), its expressed in different regions of
the butterflies wings believing that its because there exists a non-encoding
DNA region called the cis-regulatory element.
Materials and Methods
A. What experiments did they do? (How are they gathering information?)

III.

IV.

They studied 142 butterflies from 17 different species, which were collected from
the Smithosonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama and the Ministerio del
Ambiente in Ecuador. They aligned and sequenced the samples, they tested the
association between genotype and phenotype, and they fixed nucleotide
differences from the samples.
B. What techniques did they use? (What measurements did they make?)
They removed the wings from the Heliconius butterflies and kept them in labeled
envelopes, the bodies were kept in a Salt Saturated Solution, they isolated the
DNA from a 3rd part of their thorax and the DNA was purified and the RNA was
removed.
The equipment used was a Salt saturated solution to preserve the samples, a buffer
Tissue Lyser, and DNeasy Blood and Tissue Kit from Qiagen provider.
Results
A. What were the results? What happened during the study?
They created a dated tree that helped to compare and see when the changes were
happening and how diverse they were. They also were able to reduced their
samples to few thousands of the DNA pairs after having around 300 millions.
They showed graphs that shown the modifications in between Dennis (red patch
on the wing) and ray (red streaks on the wing).
B. Was anything surprising to the scientists or unexpected in the study?
They discovered how the color splotches (color red on a larger area of yellow)
have developed just once in different specie across all the Heliconius species.
Also they found that the splotch on the wing happens separately from different
genetic switches.
Discussion
A. What did the results mean?
1. Did the information gathered support or disprove their hypothesis?
Results are showing that its possible to get an entirely new butterfly wing
pattern by mixing genetic materials. Where it could be very useful for the
butterflies since they use their patterns as a form of defense from
predators. Also butterflies will change and adapt rapidly through adaptive
radiation.
The information supported their hypothesis. Based on the information they
gathered, they were able to explain how interbreeding and hybridization
shuffles will create new patterns in the butterflys wings without
modifying the functionality of the butterfly.
2. Were they able to gather enough data to come to any conclusions?
They were able to observed enough specimens and gathered enough data
to conclude that by shuffling mechanism they would be able to control

how much color goes into each spot which it would allow fast changes in
the wings patters.
B. What were the limitations to the study?
They didnt find any changes on the functionality of the butterfly based on the
genetic switches. All the species are considered members of the same group,
which its why the only thing that they were able to prove with this study was the
shuffling of colors and spots. Also the study took place in America, which opens a
possibility to try the same study in a different continent.

Works Cited
Wallbank RWR, Baxter SW, Pardo Diaz C, Hanly JJ, Martin SH, Mallet J, et al. (2016)
"Evolutionary Novelty in a Butterfly Wing Pattern through Enhancer Shuffling." PLOS
Biology:. N.p., 15 Jan. 2016. Web. 20 Jan. 2016.