Gene Editing Used to Alter Butterfly's Wing Designs

                Scientists have succeeded in altering the patterns on a butterfly’s wings by tweaking just one or two genes, an advance that may help understand how color patterns and shapes evolved in the insects. By using the new method of CRISPR, a gene editing tool, and produced a butterfly lacking the large round markings known as eyespots. In another experiments also produced changes in other parts of the wing. The distal-less gene, in particular, unveiled itself as a jack of all trades gene that plays roles in shaping several parts of the body. Deleting it not only caused the butterfly to have extra eyespots, but to have shorter legs and antennae. It takes dozens or hundreds of genes to make an eyespot, so it was remarkable to find that only one or two genes are required to add or subtract these complex patterns.