Friday, January 11th, 2008

Monarch Migration Molecular Mechanism

Monarch butterfly on a plumeless thistle flower Elizabeth A. Sellers, National Biological Information Infrastructure

What drives monarch butterflies to undertake a mass migration, traveling thousands of miles to pine groves in Mexico? New research published this week in the journal PLOS Biology takes a look at a complex circadian clock mechanism in the butterfly brain, a molecular tool that allows monarch butterflies to use the position of the sun for navigation even as it moves across the sky. A second paper in the journal PLOS One examines the genetics involved in the migration mechanism. In this segment, Ira talks with Steven M. Reppert, professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and Chair of Neurobiology there, about the mechanisms of monarch migration.