Decoding the migration pattern of painted lady butterflies, from gene to wings.

• Daria Shipilina, an evolutionary biologist at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria, explains how comparing the genomes of different plants can reveal differences in their colours.
 • She focuses on how genes in an organism’s genome contribute to its observable traits, or phenotypes, which are physical, biological, or behavioral characteristics shaped by genetics and environmental factors.
 • The study published in PNAS Nexus found that short- and long-distance migrants among painted lady butterflies (Vanessa cardui) don’t have significant genetic differences between them. Instead, the distances across which each member migrates appears to be influenced by environmental conditions.
 • The butterflies are known for their ability to thrive in diverse climatic conditions and follow a multi-generational migration cycle, with each cycle spanning eight to 10 generations.
 • The study used European and North African isoscapes, maps of the distribution of hydrogen and strontium isotopes, to estimate the distance covered by each butterfly.
 • The study revealed that short- and long-distance painted ladies don’t form distinct genetic groups but belonged to a single interbreeding population.
 • The study also found that wing size and shape didn’t seem to affect the migration distance.
 • The study has raised new questions for future research, including whether butterflies from distant regions bear genetic differences and how migration in painted ladies looks like in other parts of the world, especially in different environmental conditions.