doublesex controls both hindwing and abdominal mimicry traits in Papilio memnon

Papilio butterflies are known to possess female-limited Batesian mimicry polymorphisms. In Papilio memnon, females have mimetic and non-mimetic forms, whereas males are monomorphic and non-mimetic. Mimetic females are characterized by color patterns and tails in the hindwing and yellow abdomens. Recently, an analysis of whole-genome sequences has shown that an approximately 160 kb region of chromosome 25 is responsible for mimicry and has high diversity between mimetic (A) and non-mimetic (a) allele. This region includes three genes, UXT, doublesex (dsx), and Nach-like. Here, we investigated the function and expression of dsx, a gene involved in sexual differentiation, which is expected to be functionally important for hindwing and abdominal mimetic traits in P. memnon. Our study first reports that the same gene (dsx) regulates both the hindwing and abdominal mimetic traits in P. memnon.