Meeting Abstract
Insulin/insulin-like growth factor signaling (IIS) plays a major role in translating environmental condition to physiological and reproductive state. As well, IIS controls organismal growth and size in pre-adult stages. All of these traits are important differentiators of migrant and non-migrant monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus). Here we investigate the role of IIS in determining migration traits in monarchs. We combine environmental switch experiments and targeted gene expression analyses of IIS pathway components. We find that multiple monarch insulin-like peptides (ILPs) show distinct profiles of dynamic expression throughout larval stages, suggesting that individual ILPs serve specific functional roles and potentially influence migratory trait development. We leverage natural variation in migratory ability to take a comparative approach to understand the molecular genetics and evolution of migration traits in monarchs.
