Prof Chris Jiggins FRS
- Professor of Evolutionary Biology
- Deputy Head of Department for Research
Contact
Location
- Room F105/F106
About
I am group leader of the Insect Evolution and Genomics Group.
I graduated in Natural Sciences (Zoology) here in Cambridge and then studied for my PhD in UCL with Jim Mallet. I then had a year working on a conservation project in Ecuador, before coming back to UCL for a postdoc. However, after a brief stint in Colombia, I mainly worked in Panama at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute during this time, where I was then awarded a Tupper 3 year fellowship. After various unsuccessful applications for positions in the US and the UK, I was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship at the University of Edinburgh, where I stayed for around 4 years before moving to a lectureship in Cambridge in 2006. I was promoted to Reader in 2010 and Professor in 2014.
Research
We study adaption and speciation in the Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) and other insects. I am interested in studying how species converge due to mimicry, as a model for understanding the predictability of evolution, and the genetic and ecological causes of speciation. In addition we work on applied systems where we can address fundamental evolutionary questions but also hopefully contribute to solving global problems. This includes work on agricultural pests, in particular lepidopteran pests of soybean in Brazil, US and China and the genetic basis of insecticide resistance. We also study the black soldier fly, a key species in the insects for food and feed industry which recycles nutrients from food waste back into the food chain - but it turns out the species is also very genetically diverse and interesting from an evolutionary perspective. Find out more about our research here
If you are interested in more information regarding Heliconius butterflies, please see www.heliconius.org.
Key publications:
- Orteu, A., Kucka, M., Gordon, I. J., Ng’iru, I., van der Heijden, E. S. M., Talavera, G., Warren, I. A., Collins, S., ffrench-Constant, R. H., Martins, D. J., Chan, Y. F., Jiggins, C. D. & Martin, S. H. 2024. Transposable Element Insertions Are Associated with Batesian Mimicry in the Pantropical Butterfly Hypolimnas misippus. Molecular Biology and Evolution 41, msae041. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msae041
- Brien, M. N., Orteu, A., Yen, E. C., Galarza, J. A., Kirvesoja, J., Pakkanen, H., Wakamatsu, K., Jiggins, C. D. & Mappes, J. 2023. Colour polymorphism associated with a gene duplication in male wood tiger moths. eLife 12, e80116. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.80116
- Montejo-Kovacevich, G., Meier, J. I., Bacquet, C. N., Warren, I. A., Chan, Y. F., Kucka, M., Salazar, C., Rueda-M, N., Montgomery, S. H., McMillan, W. O., Kozak, K. M., Nadeau, N. J., Martin, S. H. & Jiggins, C. D. 2022. Repeated genetic adaptation to altitude in two tropical butterflies. Nature Communications 13, 4676. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32316-x
- Meier, J. I., Salazar, P. A., Kučka, M., Davies, R. W., Dréau, A., Aldás, I., Power, O. B., Nadeau, N. J., Bridle, J. R., Rolian, C., Barton, N. H., McMillan, W. O., Jiggins, C. D. & Chan, Y. F. 2021. Haplotype tagging reveals parallel formation of hybrid races in two butterfly species. PNAS 118, e2015005118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2015005118
- Wright, C. J., Smith, C. W. J. & Jiggins, C. D. 2022. Alternative splicing as a source of phenotypic diversity. Nature Reviews Genetics 23, 697–710. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-022-00514-4
- Valencia-Montoya, W. A., Elfekih, S., North, H. L., Meier, J. I., Warren, I. A., Tay, W. T., Gordon, K. H. J., Specht, A., Paula-Moraes, S. V., Rane, R., Walsh, T. K. & Jiggins, C. D. 2020. Adaptive Introgression across Semipermeable Species Boundaries between Local Helicoverpa zea and Invasive Helicoverpa armigera Moths. Molecular Biology and Evolution 37, 2568–2583. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaa108
- Moest, M., Van Belleghem, S. M., James, J. E., Salazar, C., Martin, S. H., Barker, S. L., Moreira, G. R. P., Mérot, C., Joron, M., Nadeau, N. J., Steiner, F. M. & Jiggins, C. D. 2020. Selective sweeps on novel and introgressed variation shape mimicry loci in a butterfly adaptive radiation. PLOS Biology 18, e3000597. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000597
- Martin, S. H., Davey, J. W., Salazar, C. & Jiggins, C. D. 2019. Recombination rate variation shapes barriers to introgression across butterfly genomes. PLOS Biology 17, e2006288. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2006288
- Darragh, K., Orteu, A., Black, D., Byers, K. J. R. P., Szczerbowski, D., Warren, I. A., Rastas, P., Pinharanda, A., Davey, J. W., Garza, S. F., Almeida, D. A., Merrill, R. M., McMillan, W. O., Schulz, S. & Jiggins, C. D. 2021. A novel terpene synthase controls differences in anti-aphrodisiac pheromone production between closely related Heliconius butterflies. PLOS Biology 19, e3001022. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001022
- Nadeau, N. J., Pardo-Diaz, C., Whibley, A., Supple, M. A., Saenko, S. V., Wallbank, R. W. R., Wu, G. C., Maroja, L., Ferguson, L., Hanly, J. J., Hines, H., Salazar, C., Merrill, R. M., Dowling, A. J., ffrench-Constant, R. H., Llaurens, V., Joron, M., McMillan, W. O. & Jiggins, C. D. 2016. The gene cortex controls mimicry and crypsis in butterflies and moths. Nature 534, 106–110. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17961
See my group webpage for a full list of publications.
Please contact me directly if you are interested in graduate study but also have a look here
Teaching and supervision
I teach first, second and third year courses in evolutionary genetics including IA Evolution and Behavior, IB Evolution and Animal Diversity and Part II Zoology..
I also supervise IA Evolution and Behavior for students from St Johns College and other colleges, and am Director of Studies for Biological Sciences in St Johns.
