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The genetic basis of a colorful signal: the polymorphic dewlap of the slender anole (Anolis apletophallus)

Heredity volume 134, pages 343–351 (2025) Cite this article

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Abstract

Organisms often use colorful morphological traits to communicate with members of their own or other species. While “colorful signaling” systems exemplify well-known examples of the evolution of phenotypic diversity, the genetic basis of most of these traits remains unknown. Male lizards of the genus Anolis possess a colorful throat fan, or “dewlap”, that is flashed during social displays. These displays have been extensively studied in the context of their role in the adaptive radiation of the genus. In contrast, the genetic basis of the Anolis dewlap has received relatively little attention. Here, we studied the dewlap of the slender anole (Anolis apletophallus) which exhibits a dewlap polymorphism: males have either an entirely orange dewlap (“solid” morph) or a white dewlap with a basal orange spot (“bicolor” morph). To understand the inheritance of this polymorphism, we conducted 99 crosses between individuals from populations that were fixed for one morph (single/fixed/monomorphic) or contained both morphs (mixed/polymorphic). Next, we investigated the genetic architecture of this trait using a pooled population sequencing (Pool-seq) experiment. Our findings indicate that the slender anole dewlap polymorphism is best explained as an autosomal, single-locus, Mendelian trait with the solid morph allele dominant to the bicolor morph allele. Our outlier analysis of the Pool-seq data identified a region strongly associated with this trait and within this region we identified a promising candidate locus—the transcription factor single-minded 1 (SIM1)—that may underly the dewlap polymorphism.

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Fig. 1: Distribution of sampling localities for individuals included in our breeding experiment.
The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.
Fig. 2: The percentage of orange in the dewlaps from wild and lab-born males of slender anole.
The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.
Fig. 3: Pooled sequencing revealed a strong candidate locus (single-minded 1, SIM1) that may underly the slender anole dewlap polymorphism.
The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

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Data availability

Supplementary Material for the breeding and Pool-seq can be found online at the following GitHub repository: https://github.com/renatapirani/Pool-seq-analyses-Anolis-apletophallus. The Pool-seq raw datasets have been deposited in the GenBank database under the accession number PRJNA998426. A more refined annotation has been deposited on our Figshare repository: https://smithsonian.figshare.com/projects/The_genetic_basis_of_a_colorful_signal_the_polymorphic_dewlap_of_the_slender_anole_Anolis_apletophallus_/172950.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Guillermo Garcia-Costoya for help with analyses. We would also like to thank the staff of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute for logistical support. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (award numbers DEB-2024157 to MLL, DEB-2024179 to CLC, and DEB-2024109 to WOM), Smithsonian Institution Biodiversity Genomics and Earl S. Tupper Fellowships (MLL), and grants from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institution (WOM, MLL, JDC, DJN, and CFA). Marie Skłodowska-Curie International Fellowship to JS (253300). We thank four anonymous reviewers for insightful feedback that helped us improve the manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. Renata M. Pirani

    Present address: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

  2. These authors contributed equally: Renata M. Pirani, Carlos F. Arias.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology and Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology, University of Nevada Reno, Reno, NV, USA

    Renata M. Pirani & Michael L. Logan

  2. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama City, Panama

    Renata M. Pirani, Carlos F. Arias, John David Curlis, Daniel J. Nicholson, W. Owen McMillan, Christian L. Cox & Michael L. Logan

  3. Data Science Lab, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA

    Carlos F. Arias

  4. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    John David Curlis

  5. University of Texas Arlington, Arlington, TX, USA

    Daniel J. Nicholson

  6. Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

    Jessica Stapley

  7. Department of Biological Sciences and Institute of Environment, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA

    Christian L. Cox

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Contributions

RMP, JS, WOM, CLC, and MLL conceived the project. RMP, CFA, JDC, DJN, CLC, and MLL collected tissues and supported the project logistically. JS performed the breeding experiment. RMP and CFA performed statistical and bioinformatics analyses. RMP wrote the first draft of the manuscript, and all authors contributed to manuscript revision.

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Correspondence to Renata M. Pirani.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

Research ethics statement

All animal procedures followed the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and were performed in accordance with ethical approval from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (IACUC protocol numbers 2011-0326-2013-05 and 2020-0601-2023-A2).

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Pirani, R.M., Arias, C.F., Curlis, J.D. et al. The genetic basis of a colorful signal: the polymorphic dewlap of the slender anole (Anolis apletophallus). Heredity 134, 343–351 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41437-025-00763-z

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