Repeated inversions at thepannierintron drive diversification of intraspecific colour patterns of ladybird beetles

AbstractHow genetic information is modified to generate phenotypic variation within a species is one of the central questions in evolutionary biology. Here we focus on the striking intraspecific diversity of more than 200 aposematic elytral (forewing) colour patterns of the multicoloured Asian ladybird beetle,Harmonia axyridis, which is regulated by a tightly linked genetic locush. Our loss-of-function analyses, genetic association studies,de novogenome assemblies, and gene expression data reveal that the GATA transcription factor genepannieris the major regulatory gene located at thehlocus, and suggest that repeated inversions and cis-regulatory modifications atpannierled to the expansion of colour pattern variation inH. axyridis. Moreover, we show that the colour patterning function ofpannieris conserved in the seven spotted ladybird beetle,Coccinella septempunctata, suggesting thatH. axyridis’extraordinary intra-specific variation may have arisen from ancient modifications in a conserved elytral colour patterning mechanisms in ladybird beetles.