A Single Mutation Turned the Peppered Moth Black (IMAGE)

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

A Single Mutation Turned the Peppered Moth Black

Caption

The black (carbonaria) form of the peppered moth (Biston betularia) displaced the light colored (typical) form across much of 1850-1970 Britain, due to enhanced crypsis in an environment blackened by industrial pollution. Van't Hof et al. have mapped the chromosomal region containing the controlling locus and show that the carbonaria allele has a unique and recent origin. These are the actual parents of the main mapping family used in the study (carbonaria male x typical female). This image relates to an article that appeared in the April 14, 2011, issue of Science Express, published by AAAS. The study, by Arjen van't Hof at University of Liverpool in Liverpool, UK, and colleagues was titled, "Industrial Melanism in British Peppered Moths has a Singular and Recent Mutational Origin."

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Photo by Ilik Saccheri, © <i>Science</i>/AAAS

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