Functional annotation of head development in the Heliconius erato genome. Heliconius erato lativitta

Uncovering phylogenetic patterns of cis-regulatory evolution remains a fundamental goal for evolutionary and developmental biology. We use ChIP-seq annotation of regulatory elements across three stages of head development to characterize the rapid evolution of regulatory loci in butterflies and moths. Doing so, we also provide a high quality, functionally annotated genome assembly for the butterfly, Heliconius erato. We compare cis-regulatory element conservation across six lepidopteran genomes, providing a benchmark for genome-wide patterns of regulatory element evolution in insects.