Professor 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.
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).
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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).
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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).
1.
Brien, M. N. et al. Colour polymorphism associated with a gene duplication in male wood tiger moths. Preprint at https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.04.29.490025 (2022).
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Hanly, J. J. et al. A large deletion at the cortex locus eliminates butterfly wing patterning. G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics 12, jkac021 (2022).
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Schuldiner-Harpaz, T., Merrill, R. M. & Jiggins, C. D. Evolution of physical linkage between loci controlling ecological traits and mating preferences. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 35, 1537–1547 (2022).
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Chazot, N. et al. Conserved ancestral tropical niche but different continental histories explain the latitudinal diversity gradient in brush-footed butterflies. Nat Commun 12, 5717 (2021).
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Livraghi, L. et al. Cortex cis-regulatory switches establish scale colour identity and pattern diversity in Heliconius. eLife 10, e68549 (2021).
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Kozak, K. M., Joron, M., McMillan, W. O. & Jiggins, C. D. Rampant Genome-Wide Admixture across the Heliconius Radiation. Genome Biology and Evolution 13, evab099 (2021).
1.
Meier, J. I. et al. Haplotype tagging reveals parallel formation of hybrid races in two butterfly species. PNAS 118, e2015005118 (2021).
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Mattila, A. L. K. et al. Evolutionary and ecological processes influencing chemical defense variation in an aposematic and mimetic Heliconius butterfly. PeerJ 9, e11523 (2021).
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Seabra, S. G. et al. Population structure, adaptation and divergence of the meadow spittlebug, Philaenus spumarius (Hemiptera, Aphrophoridae), revealed by genomic and morphological data. PeerJ 9, e11425 (2021).
1.
Kaya, C. et al. Global population genetic structure and demographic trajectories of the black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens. BMC Biology 19, 94 (2021).
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Generalovic, T. N. et al. A high-quality, chromosome-level genome assembly of the Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens L.). G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics 11, jkab085 (2021).
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Darragh, K. et al. A novel terpene synthase controls differences in anti-aphrodisiac pheromone production between closely related Heliconius butterflies. PLOS Biology 19, e3001022 (2021).
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Montejo-Kovacevich, G. et al. Genomics of altitude-associated wing shape in two tropical butterflies. Molecular Ecology 30, 6387–6402 (2021).
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Byers, K. J. R. P. et al. Clustering of loci controlling species differences in male chemical bouquets of sympatric Heliconius butterflies. Ecology and Evolution 11, 89–107 (2021).
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Ehlers, S. et al. Identification and Composition of Clasper Scent Gland Components of the Butterfly Heliconius erato and Its Relation to Mimicry. ChemBioChem 22, 3300–3313 (2021).
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North, H. L., McGaughran, A. & Jiggins, C. D. Insights into invasive species from whole-genome resequencing. Molecular Ecology n/a, (2021).
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de Castro, É. C. P., Musgrove, J., Bak, S., McMillan, W. O. & Jiggins, C. D. Phenotypic plasticity in chemical defence of butterflies allows usage of diverse host plants. Biology Letters 17, 20200863 (2021).
1.
Rossi, M. et al. Visual mate preference evolution during butterfly speciation is linked to neural processing genes. Nature Communications 11, 4763 (2020).
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Yen, E. C. et al. A haplotype-resolved, de novo genome assembly for the wood tiger moth (Arctia plantaginis) through trio binning. Gigascience 9, (2020).
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Schooten, B. van et al. Divergence of chemosensing during the early stages of speciation. PNAS 117, 16438–16447 (2020).
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González-Rojas, M. F. et al. Chemical signals act as the main reproductive barrier between sister and mimetic Heliconius butterflies. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 287, 20200587 (2020).
1.
Orteu, A. & Jiggins, C. D. The genomics of coloration provides insights into adaptive evolution. Nat Rev Genet 21, 461–475 (2020).
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Montejo-Kovacevich, G. et al. Microclimate buffering and thermal tolerance across elevations in a tropical butterfly. Journal of Experimental Biology 223, jeb220426 (2020).
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Martin, S. H. et al. Whole-chromosome hitchhiking driven by a male-killing endosymbiont. PLOS Biology 18, e3000610 (2020).
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Arias, M. et al. How do predators generalize warning signals in simple and complex prey communities? Insights from a videogame. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 287, 20200014 (2020).
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Moest, M. et al. Selective sweeps on novel and introgressed variation shape mimicry loci in a butterfly adaptive radiation. PLOS Biology 18, e3000597 (2020).
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Valencia-Montoya, W. A. et al. Adaptive Introgression across Semipermeable Species Boundaries between Local Helicoverpa zea and Invasive Helicoverpa armigera Moths. Mol Biol Evol (2020) http://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaa108.
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Darragh, K. et al. Species specificity and intraspecific variation in the chemical profiles of Heliconius butterflies across a large geographic range. Ecology and Evolution 10, 3895-3918. (2020).
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Mérot, C. et al. Hybridization and transgressive exploration of colour pattern and wing morphology in Heliconius butterflies. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 33, 942–956 (2020).
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Byers, K. J. R. P. et al. A major locus controls a biologically active pheromone component in Heliconius melpomene. Evolution 74, 349–364 (2020).
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Concha, C. et al. Interplay between Developmental Flexibility and Determinism in the Evolution of Mimetic Heliconius Wing Patterns. Current Biology 29, 3996-4009.e4 (2019).
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Edelman, N. B. et al. Genomic architecture and introgression shape a butterfly radiation. Science 366, 594–599 (2019).
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Hanly, J. J., Wallbank, R. W. R., McMillan, W. O. & Jiggins, C. D. Conservation and flexibility in the gene regulatory landscape of heliconiine butterfly wings. EvoDevo 10, 15 (2019).
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Merrill, R. M. et al. Genetic dissection of assortative mating behavior. PLOS Biology 17, e2005902 (2019).
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Martin, S. H., Davey, J. W., Salazar, C. & Jiggins, C. D. Recombination rate variation shapes barriers to introgression across butterfly genomes. PLOS Biology 17, e2006288 (2019).
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Darragh, K. et al. Male pheromone composition depends on larval but not adult diet in Heliconius melpomene. Ecological Entomology 44, 397–405 (2019).
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Montejo‐Kovacevich, G. et al. Altitude and life-history shape the evolution of Heliconius wings. Evolution 73, 2436–2450 (2019).
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Pinharanda, A. et al. Sexually dimorphic gene expression and transcriptome evolution provide mixed evidence for a fast-Z effect in Heliconius. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 32, 194–204 (2019).
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Belleghem, S. M. V. et al. Patterns of Z chromosome divergence among Heliconius species highlight the importance of historical demography. Molecular Ecology 27, 3852–3872 (2018).
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Dell’Aglio, D. D., Troscianko, J., McMillan, W. O., Stevens, M. & Jiggins, C. D. The appearance of mimetic Heliconius butterflies to predators and conspecifics. Evolution 72, 2156–2166 (2018).
1.
Belleghem, S. M. V. et al. patternize: An R package for quantifying colour pattern variation. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 9, 390–398 (2018).