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Insect Evolution and Genomics Group

Chris Jiggins

Chris_officeProfessor of Evolutionary Biology

Email:c.jiggins [at] zoo.cam.ac.uk 

Director of Studies and Fellow at St John’s College .

Research Associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society

 

Research

I have been working with Heliconius butterflies since 1993, when I started my PhD with Jim Mallet in University College London. My original interests were in the ecology of tropical insects, and during my PhD work I studied a hybrid zone in Ecuador between two incipient species (Heliconius himera and H. erato). After a brief respite as a conservation biologist in Ecuador, I then continued with a Postdoc position, during which I worked mainly in Panama. This led us to the discovery that Heliconius melpomene and H. cydno use wing patterns as cues during mating, leading to reproductive isolation – an example of an ecological trait that contributes to assortative mating and a phenomenon that is now commonly termed a ‘magic trait’.

I began to work on the genetic basis of wing patterns in about 2001, conducting crossing experiments in Panama with races of H. melpomene. Over the subsequent years this led to the cloning and identification of wing pattern genes such as optix – a large collaborative effort involving many researchers from across the community.

Currently my group works on many aspects of Heliconius evolutionary biology, including evolutionary developmental biology of wing patterning, the genetic and behavioural basis for speciation, the sensory ecology of mimicry and analysis of the Heliconius melpomene genome.

Teaching

I am Director of Studies at St John’s College for Natural Sciences (Biological), where I run admissions and take care of academic care for around 60 undergraduates. I am working on various admissions initiatives to increase the diversity of applicants to the college from different backgrounds.

I supervise students for a number of course including IA Evolution and Behaviour, IB Animal Biology, IB Ecology
In the Department of Zoology I teach on two third year (Part II) modules: L5 Evolution Development and Animal Diversity and M5 Behaviour. I also teach on the IB Ecology Field trip to Juniper Hall in Surrey.

CV

  • 2014-present Professor of Evolutionary Biology, University of Cambridge
  • 2010-2014 Reader, University of Cambridge
  • 2006-2010 University Lecturer and Royal Society University Research Fellow, University of Cambridge
  • 2003-2006 Royal Society University Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh
  • 2000-2002 Tupper Fellowship at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
  • 1998-2000 Postdoc with Jim Mallet (mostly based at STRI)
  • 1998 Organised the Sozoranga Forest Project (forest conservation in SE Ecuador)
  • 1993-1996 PhD University College London supervised by Jim Mallet. ‘The ecology and genetics of speciation in Heliconius butterflies‘
  • 1990-1993 BA(Hons) Zoology, Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge

Recent Publications

1.
Jin, M. et al. Adaptive evolution to the natural and anthropogenic environment in a global invasive crop pest, the cotton bollworm. The Innovation 100454 (2023) http://doi.org/10.1016/j.xinn.2023.100454.
1.
Orteu, A. et al. The Hypolimnas misippus genome supports a common origin of the W chromosome in Lepidoptera. Preprint at https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.03.24.533969 (2023).
1.
Rueda-M, N. et al. Three sequential sex chromosome – autosome fusions in Heliconius butterflies. Preprint at https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.03.06.531374 (2023).
1.
Van Belleghem, S. M. et al. High level of novelty under the hood of convergent evolution. Science 379, 1043–1049 (2023).
1.
Huang, Y., McPherson, J., Jiggins, C. D. & Montejo-Kovacevich, G. Effects of temperature on the development of Heliconius erato butterflies. Preprint at https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.12.07.519472 (2022).
1.
Ruggieri, A. A. et al. A butterfly pan-genome reveals that a large amount of structural variation underlies the evolution of chromatin accessibility. Genome Res. gr.276839.122 (2022) http://doi.org/10.1101/gr.276839.122.
1.
Montejo-Kovacevich, G. et al. Repeated genetic adaptation to altitude in two tropical butterflies. Nat Commun 13, 4676 (2022).
1.
Cama, B. et al. Exploitation of an ancestral pheromone biosynthetic pathway contributes to diversification in Heliconius butterflies. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 289, 20220474 (2022).
1.
Wright, C. J., Smith, C. W. J. & Jiggins, C. D. Alternative splicing as a source of phenotypic diversity. Nat Rev Genet 1–14 (2022) http://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-022-00514-4.
1.
Szczerbowski, D., Ehlers, S., Darragh, K., Jiggins, C. & Schulz, S. Head and Tail Oxidized Terpenoid Esters from Androconia of Heliconius erato Butterflies. J. Nat. Prod. 85, 1428–1435 (2022).

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