ABSTRACT

The Lepidoptera is a diverse clade that has long attracted the attention of biologists interested in ecological and evolutionary processes. This dates back to classic evolutionary genetic studies of natural populations, which have contributed signicantly to our current understanding of the natural world (Clarke and Sheppard 1960; Kettlewell 1973; Ford 1975). Nonetheless, such studies were limited by the fact that the link between genotype and phenotype was essentially an intractable

Background .................................................................................................................................... 105 Resources Available for Heliconius ............................................................................................... 106

Microsatellite Markers .............................................................................................................. 106 Genomic Libraries ..................................................................................................................... 107 Genomic Sequence Surveys ...................................................................................................... 107 cDNA Libraries ......................................................................................................................... 107 Transcriptomic Sequence Surveys ............................................................................................ 108

ButteryBase .................................................................................................................................. 109 Genetic Analysis Using Crosses .................................................................................................... 109 Creating Linkage Maps Using AFLPs ........................................................................................... 111 Candidate Gene Approach ............................................................................................................. 112 Identifying AFLP Markers Linked to Traits of Interest ................................................................. 112

From AFLPs to BAC Tile Paths ................................................................................................ 113 Comparative Mapping of the Radiation .................................................................................... 115

Comparative Genomic Sequence Data .......................................................................................... 115 Identifying Wing-Patterning Genes-Multiple Lines of Evidence ................................................ 116 Patterns of Synteny in the Macrolepidoptera ................................................................................. 116 Conclusions .................................................................................................................................... 118 Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................................... 118 References ...................................................................................................................................... 118

“black box.” In contrast, we are now in an era in which it is becoming increasingly feasible to clone genes with major phenotypic effects in even the most poorly studied genomes, offering an unprecedented opportunity to understand phenotypic evolution at a molecular level (Feder and Mitchell-Olds 2003). Consequently, there is now considerable recent research interest in identifying genes controlling major phenotypic traits in the Lepidoptera, and several recent studies have made signicant progress in documenting the genetic basis of phenotypic traits ranging from insecticide resistance, through dispersal ability, to morphological traits such as color pattern (Gahan, Gould, and Heckel 2001; Daborn et al. 2002; Hanski and Saccheri 2006; Joron et al. 2007).