Congratulations to former lab members Dr. Dave Ernst, Gabby Agcaoili, and Abby Merril on their paper, “A learning experience elicits sex-dependent neurogenomic responses in Bicyclus anynana butterflies” published in Molecular Ecology!
Both female and male B. anynana butterflies learn mate preferences, however they learn preferences for different wing pattern elements and exhibit different learning biases. Here we identify a number of genes associated with this sexually dimorphic learning process in the brain and eye, including chemosensory genes, vision genes, learning and memory genes, and genes known to influence the wing patterns themselves (wing patterning genes). Want to learn more? Check out this link!