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2025 Director’s Lecture:
Sex-linked gene traffic and the acquisition of sexually dimorphic UV color vision in Heliconius butterflies.
My lab studies gene products underlying physiological and behavioral traits following the processes of gene duplication and functional diversification. We use butterflies as model systems for examining how natural selection shapes the primary amino acid sequence of proteins and leads to changes in physiology and behavior, specifically in the interaction between color vision and wing coloration. We study how changes in the spatial expression of photoreceptors and colored filters in the eye have direct consequences for butterflies in their behavioral interactions with predators, potential mates and the environment.
