Evolution of flower color pattern through selection on regulatory small RNAs
Abstract
In some snapdragons, a yellow spot in a field of magenta shows the bee the best place to go. Flowers of a related subspecies are mainly yellow with magenta veins marking the target. Bradley et al. analyzed a locus that regulates the pattern of color. The locus contains an inverted gene duplication that encodes small RNAs that repress pigment biosynthesis. Analysis of flowers derived from a region of the Pyrenees where the subspecies coexist indicates that natural selection is operating upon the locus.
- Publication:
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Science
- Pub Date:
- November 2017
- DOI:
- 10.1126/science.aao3526
- Bibcode:
- 2017Sci...358..925B
- Keywords:
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- GENETICS