on wing patterns

Martha Rosett Lutz lutzrun at avalon.net
Sun Feb 4 20:05:25 EST 2001


Hello Leps-ers!

I just caught Dr. Sperling's note--


He wrote:

"wing pattern (and the underlying
genes for them) may say one thing, while mtDNA may say another.
Whether mtDNA or wing pattern genes are more likely to be a good
indicator of what the majority of the total genome is saying is an
open question."


apparently this was at least partly in response to a note that included this:

" I don't understand how, in the absence of underlying genetic
differences, there can be differences in wing pattern."


Like Dr. Sperling, I have been "overwhelmed by a barrage" of crises,
although not administrative.  (Domestic; you DON'T want to hear about it!)
Which means I may be out of context.  If so, please forgive me.

However, just in case I do have the right thread here:  differences in wing
pattern in the absence of underlying genetic differences are not at all
impossible.  Penetrance, interactions with environmental chemicals or
pathogens, and other factors (heat, for example) could cause different wing
patterns to develop from identical underlying genotypes, depending on which
genes were expressed under what conditions.

These are abnormal situations, granted, and not factors that should be used
in systematics, but it is useful to keep in mind that not all differential
phenotypic expression is a direct reflection of differential genetics.

I could, for example (non-lep, sorry!  but something that I have been
studying for the past three years) suppress steroid hormone production,
delay sexual maturation, and cause extreme fragility of bones in young
human females by sending them out to run 60 miles per week while
restricting their caloric intake.  They would look quite different from
otherwise genetically identical individuals (if I had lots of these to set
up a controlled experiment--completely unethical!) who were allowed normal
caloric intake and who were restricted from excessive exercise.

The point here is simply that the link between genotype and phenotype is
never as simple and direct as would be convenient for biologists . . . on
the other hand, that is one of the things that makes biology fun.

Sorry to use a non-leps example, and I hope I am not out of context or
offending anyone.  I have not been able to keep up with all my e-mail
lately.

In Stride,
Martha Rosett Lutz

P.S.  The good news is that (as of right now, anyway) all my kids are
healthy.  The bad news is that another local family has not been so
lucky--lost a young teen girl to bacterial meningitis, and the local MDs
are very on edge about any child who develops a high fever--we got a
first-hand taste of that on Friday . . .



 
 ------------------------------------------------------------ 

   For subscription and related information about LEPS-L visit:

   http://www.peabody.yale.edu/other/lepsl 
 


More information about the Leps-l mailing list