Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 26, 2025

Quantifying Abdominal Pigmentation in Drosophila melanogaster
Published on: June 1, 2017
Eco-Evo-Devo of petal pigmentation patterning
Alice L M Fairnie1, May T S Yeo1,2, Stefano Gatti1
1The Sainsbury Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Bateman Street, Cambridge CB2 1LR, U.K.
Abstract:
Colourful spots, stripes and rings decorate the corolla of most flowering plants and fulfil important biotic and abiotic functions. Spatial differences in the pigmentation of epidermal cells can create these patterns. The last few years have yielded new data that have started to illuminate the mechanisms controlling the function, formation and evolution of petal patterns. These advances have broad impacts beyond the immediate field as pigmentation patterns are wonderful systems to explore multiscale biological problems: from understanding how cells make decisions at the microscale to examining the roots of biodiversity at the macroscale. These new results also reveal there is more to petal patterning than meets the eye, opening up a brand new area of investigation. In this mini-review, we summarise our current knowledge on the Eco-Evo-Devo of petal pigmentation patterns and discuss some of the most exciting yet unanswered questions that represent avenues for future research.
Related Concept Videos
Pigmentation
Melanin occurs in two primary forms: eumelanin that provides black and brown pigment and pheomelanin that provides red color. Dark-skinned individuals produce more melanin than those with pale...
Epistasis
Predator-Prey Interactions
Epistasis Analysis
Incomplete Dominance
Speciation Rates

