The same gene, called cortex, was also found to control color patterns on the wings of tropical butterflies in a separate study. Dr. Saccheri was surprised because cortex usually controls cell division in many organisms, not traits like wing color. Advertisement Continue reading the main storyResearch will continue to find out precisely how the color change occurs. Photo“It’s this huge chunk of DNA that doesn’t itself code for anything, but somehow disrupts the nature of the gene,” Dr. Saccheri said. By blending in with the coal-darkened trees, it avoided becoming lunch for birds, passed down its genes and outnumbered the original moth in urban areas for a time.

Source: New York Times June 02, 2016 09:00 UTC