DNA Reveals Genetic Secrets of Monarch Butterflies Jim Algar - Tech Times
go to original October 2, 2014

Monarchs take to the sky in Mexico. (Sonia Altizer)

How do monarch butterflies make their incredible 3,000-mile mass migrations from Canada down to the coast of California and into Mexico each autumn? It's down to genetics, a study has found; in fact, researchers say, it's all due to one single gene.

After sequencing the monarch genome, they report finding a single gene - linked to the efficiency of the creatures' flight muscles - that allows them to fly so far and for so long.

Monarch butterflies are mostly a North American species, although populations also exist in Central and South America. Monarchs outside of North America do not migrate.

The single gene identified in the study, named Collagen IV alpha-1, was linked to a "stand-out difference" between the migratory and non-migratory species of monarchs, the researchers said.

The gene is involved in generating muscle tissue, and migratory monarchs were found to have a significantly more efficient muscle metabolism than those that don't migrate, the researchers said.

Flight muscle performance appears to be key, since differences between species that migrate and those that don't are minimal when they're not in flight, they said.

An analogy, they said, might be the difference between marathon runners - in this case the migrating butterflies - and sprinters, those that don't migrate.

"I find it amazing that these little butterflies live for months and fly thousands of miles to perform this annual migration," University of Chicago ecology and evolution Professor Marcus Kronforst says.

Read the full story at Tech Times

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