Аннотация:Significance Our study assesses the long-held hypothesis that evolution of new gene functions underlies the diversification of animal forms. To do this, we systematically compared the patterning roles of a single gene across seven butterfly species. Under a null hypothesis of gene stasis, each knockout experiment should yield directly comparable phenotypes. We instead observed a varied repertoire of lineage-specific effects in different wing regions, demonstrating that the repeated modification of a key instructive signal was instrumental in the complex evolution of wing color patterns. These comparative data confirm the heuristic potential of CRISPR mutagenesis in nontraditional model organisms and illustrate the principle that biodiversity can emerge from the tinkering of homologous genetic factors.
