title: Estimation of the spontaneous mutation rate in Heliconius melpomene.
abstract: We estimated the spontaneous mutation rate in Heliconius melpomene by genome sequencing of a pair of parents and 30 of their offspring, based on the ratio of number of de novo heterozygotes to the number of callable site-individuals. We detected nine new mutations, each one affecting a single site in a single offspring. This yields an estimated mutation rate of 2.9 × 10(-9) (95% confidence interval, 1.3 × 10(-9)-5.5 × 10(-9)), which is similar to recent estimates in Drosophila melanogaster, the only other insect species in which the mutation rate has been directly estimated. We infer that recent effective population size of H. melpomene is about 2 million, a substantially lower value than its census size, suggesting a role for natural selection reducing diversity. We estimate that H. melpomene diverged from its Müllerian comimic H. erato about 6 Ma, a somewhat later date than estimates based on a local molecular clock.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom peter.keightley@ed.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Peter D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Keightley
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pinharanda
authors.affiliation: Institute of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Rob W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Ness
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Fraser
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Simpson
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, London, United Kingdom Department of Biology, University of York, York, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Kanchon K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Dasmahapatra
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, London, United Kingdom Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mallet
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: John W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Davey
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Chris D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Jiggins
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002080:Butterflies / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005260:Female; D049750:Genome, Insect; D008297:Male; D059645:Mutation Rate; D010802:Phylogeny; D011156:Population Density; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Heliconius; genome sequencing; mutation