Author
W. Owen McMillan
Other affiliations: University College London, Smithsonian Institution, North Carolina State University ...read more
Bio: W. Owen McMillan is an academic researcher from Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. The author has contributed to research in topics: Heliconius & Heliconius erato. The author has an hindex of 49, co-authored 152 publications receiving 9942 citations. Previous affiliations of W. Owen McMillan include University College London & Smithsonian Institution.
Topics: Heliconius, Heliconius erato, Heliconius melpomene, Population, Biology
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
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University College London1, University of Cambridge2, University of California, Irvine3, University of Maryland, College Park4, University of Oxford5, Smithsonian Institution6, University of Greifswald7, Max Planck Society8, Imperial College London9, Harvard University10, University of East Anglia11, Mississippi State University12, University of Texas at Austin13, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation14, University of Paris15, California Academy of Sciences16, University of Hawaii17, Williams College18, Yale University19, University of Puerto Rico20, Johns Hopkins University21, North Carolina State University22, University of Bristol23, University of Edinburgh24, Baylor College of Medicine25, Del Rosario University26, University of Exeter27, Boston University28
TL;DR: It is inferred that closely related Heliconius species exchange protective colour-pattern genes promiscuously, implying that hybridization has an important role in adaptive radiation.
Abstract: Sequencing of the genome of the butterfly Heliconius melpomene shows that closely related Heliconius species exchange protective colour-pattern genes promiscuously.
1,103 citations
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University of California, Irvine1, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras2, North Carolina State University3, Mississippi State University4, University of Cambridge5, Harvard University6, Human Genome Sequencing Center7, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center8, Duke University9, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute10
TL;DR: The results show that the cis-regulatory evolution of a single transcription factor can repeatedly drive the convergent evolution of complex color patterns in distantly related species, thus blurring the distinction between convergence and homology.
Abstract: Mimicry—whereby warning signals in different species evolve to look similar—has long served as a paradigm of convergent evolution. Little is known, however, about the genes that underlie the evolution of mimetic phenotypes or to what extent the same or different genes drive such convergence. Here, we characterize one of the major genes responsible for mimetic wing pattern evolution in Heliconius butterflies. Mapping, gene expression, and population genetic work all identify a single gene, optix, that controls extreme red wing pattern variation across multiple species of Heliconius. Our results show that the cis-regulatory evolution of a single transcription factor can repeatedly drive the convergent evolution of complex color patterns in distantly related species, thus blurring the distinction between convergence and homology.
429 citations
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TL;DR: Analysis of the role of introgressive hybridisation in transferring adaptations between mimetic Heliconius butterflies, taking advantage of the recent identification of a gene regulating red wing patterns in this genus, finds an almost perfect genotype by phenotype association across four species.
Abstract: It is widely documented that hybridisation occurs between many closely related species, but the importance of introgression in adaptive evolution remains unclear, especially in animals. Here, we have examined the role of introgressive hybridisation in transferring adaptations between mimetic Heliconius butterflies, taking advantage of the recent identification of a gene regulating red wing patterns in this genus. By sequencing regions both linked and unlinked to the red colour locus, we found a region that displays an almost perfect genotype by phenotype association across four species, H. melpomene, H. cydno, H. timareta, and H. heurippa. This particular segment is located 70 kb downstream of the red colour specification gene optix, and coalescent analysis indicates repeated introgression of adaptive alleles from H. melpomene into the H. cydno species clade. Our analytical methods complement recent genome scale data for the same region and suggest adaptive introgression has a crucial role in generating adaptive wing colour diversity in this group of butterflies.
336 citations
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Harvard University1, Smithsonian Institution2, Brigham Young University3, Norwich Research Park4, University of Cambridge5, University of York6, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras7, Broad Institute8, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute9, University of Edinburgh10, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul11, Del Rosario University12, Centre national de la recherche scientifique13, Mississippi State University14, University of Puerto Rico15, Cornell University16, University of Chicago17, University of Montpellier18, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute19, University of Texas at Austin20
TL;DR: Tests to distinguish incomplete lineage sorting from introgression indicate that gene flow has obscured several ancient phylogenetic relationships in this group over large swathes of the genome, and a hitherto unknown inversion that traps a color pattern switch locus is identified.
Abstract: We used 20 de novo genome assemblies to probe the speciation history and architecture of gene flow in rapidly radiating Heliconius butterflies. Our tests to distinguish incomplete lineage sorting from introgression indicate that gene flow has obscured several ancient phylogenetic relationships in this group over large swathes of the genome. Introgressed loci are underrepresented in low-recombination and gene-rich regions, consistent with the purging of foreign alleles more tightly linked to incompatibility loci. Here, we identify a hitherto unknown inversion that traps a color pattern switch locus. We infer that this inversion was transferred between lineages by introgression and is convergent with a similar rearrangement in another part of the genus. These multiple de novo genome sequences enable improved understanding of the importance of introgression and selective processes in adaptive radiation.
295 citations
Cited by
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TL;DR: It is suggested that the natural selection against large insertion/deletion is so weak that a large amount of variation is maintained in a population.
11,521 citations
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TL;DR: For the next few weeks the course is going to be exploring a field that’s actually older than classical population genetics, although the approach it’ll be taking to it involves the use of population genetic machinery.
Abstract: So far in this course we have dealt entirely with the evolution of characters that are controlled by simple Mendelian inheritance at a single locus. There are notes on the course website about gametic disequilibrium and how allele frequencies change at two loci simultaneously, but we didn’t discuss them. In every example we’ve considered we’ve imagined that we could understand something about evolution by examining the evolution of a single gene. That’s the domain of classical population genetics. For the next few weeks we’re going to be exploring a field that’s actually older than classical population genetics, although the approach we’ll be taking to it involves the use of population genetic machinery. If you know a little about the history of evolutionary biology, you may know that after the rediscovery of Mendel’s work in 1900 there was a heated debate between the “biometricians” (e.g., Galton and Pearson) and the “Mendelians” (e.g., de Vries, Correns, Bateson, and Morgan). Biometricians asserted that the really important variation in evolution didn’t follow Mendelian rules. Height, weight, skin color, and similar traits seemed to
9,847 citations
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TL;DR: The editors have done a masterful job of weaving together the biologic, the behavioral, and the clinical sciences into a single tapestry in which everyone from the molecular biologist to the practicing psychiatrist can find and appreciate his or her own research.
Abstract: I have developed "tennis elbow" from lugging this book around the past four weeks, but it is worth the pain, the effort, and the aspirin. It is also worth the (relatively speaking) bargain price. Including appendixes, this book contains 894 pages of text. The entire panorama of the neural sciences is surveyed and examined, and it is comprehensive in its scope, from genomes to social behaviors. The editors explicitly state that the book is designed as "an introductory text for students of biology, behavior, and medicine," but it is hard to imagine any audience, interested in any fragment of neuroscience at any level of sophistication, that would not enjoy this book. The editors have done a masterful job of weaving together the biologic, the behavioral, and the clinical sciences into a single tapestry in which everyone from the molecular biologist to the practicing psychiatrist can find and appreciate his or
7,563 citations
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors introduce a new approach to perform relaxed phylogenetic analysis, which can be used to estimate phylogenies and divergence times in the face of uncertainty in evolutionary rates and calibration times.
Abstract: In phylogenetics, the unrooted model of phylogeny and the strict molecular clock model are two extremes of a continuum. Despite their dominance in phylogenetic inference, it is evident that both are biologically unrealistic and that the real evolutionary process lies between these two extremes. Fortunately, intermediate models employing relaxed molecular clocks have been described. These models open the gate to a new field of “relaxed phylogenetics.” Here we introduce a new approach to performing relaxed phylogenetic analysis. We describe how it can be used to estimate phylogenies and divergence times in the face of uncertainty in evolutionary rates and calibration times. Our approach also provides a means for measuring the clocklikeness of datasets and comparing this measure between different genes and phylogenies. We find no significant rate autocorrelation among branches in three large datasets, suggesting that autocorrelated models are not necessarily suitable for these data. In addition, we place these datasets on the continuum of clocklikeness between a strict molecular clock and the alternative unrooted extreme. Finally, we present analyses of 102 bacterial, 106 yeast, 61 plant, 99 metazoan, and 500 primate alignments. From these we conclude that our method is phylogenetically more accurate and precise than the traditional unrooted model while adding the ability to infer a timescale to evolution.
5,812 citations