Butterfly wing patterns & "junk" DNA

Discussion on butterflies, moths and skippers
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58chevy
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Butterfly wing patterns & "junk" DNA

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Chuck
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Re: Butterfly wing patterns & "junk" DNA

Post by Chuck »

Wow. Very interesting.
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Re: Butterfly wing patterns & "junk" DNA

Post by eurytides »



Watch more of Dr. A. Martin’s work here.
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Re: Butterfly wing patterns & "junk" DNA

Post by Chuck »

That latest is very interesting. I imagine not long from now all sorts of CRISPR-modified butterfly "forms" will appear on Eghay.

A quick search revealed that one can buy CRISPR kits, though the $200 version seems very limited and not applicable to butterflies. But I imagine that those with a friend in a lab could turn them out.

Since the genetics are modified, and as I understand it limited to wing patterns, I'd presume that the offspring would be both viable and also exhibit the modified patterns.

It's only a matter of time that between regulations and home-modified strains, wild caught specimens will be invaluable.
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Re: Butterfly wing patterns & "junk" DNA

Post by kevinkk »

Exactly, the process is interesting, but modifying animals is dicey. Just like hybrids, meh.. I've hybridized Hyalophora before, but it was an afterthought.
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Re: Butterfly wing patterns & "junk" DNA

Post by adamcotton »

The difference with hybrids, at least between species, is that the offspring are normally infertile; but with CRISPR modified specimens their genes should be transmissible. These should never be allowed into nature, just as live specimens of non-native species and subspecies should never be released anywhere they don't belong.

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Re: Butterfly wing patterns & "junk" DNA

Post by africaone »

adamcotton wrote: Mon Oct 24, 2022 7:32 pm The difference with hybrids, at least between species, is that the offspring are normally infertile; but with CRISPR modified specimens their genes should be transmissible. These should never be allowed into nature, just as live specimens of non-native species and subspecies should never be released anywhere they don't belong.

Adam.
This not always true Adam. Sometimes hybridds occurs between well distinct species and give a new hybrid population (see my last paper on Charaxes. It is a motor for evolution (the phenomen seems more frequent in plants). The theoric definition are somùetimes not the natural ones.
https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... Charaxinae
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Re: Butterfly wing patterns & "junk" DNA

Post by adamcotton »

africaone wrote: Wed Oct 26, 2022 11:07 am This not always true Adam.
Indeed, and that is why I said normally infertile.

Adam.
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