Analyses of wing master gene orthologs in apterygote and pterygote insects and its application

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In Drosophila melanogaster, the wing master gene vestigial (vg) and its interaction partner scalloped (sd) play a pivotal role to form the wing field identity. These genes would be good molecular markers to investigate the wing origin and evolution. We analyzed vg and sd orthologs from the twenty-eight spotted ladybird beetle Henosepilachna vigintioctopuctata as the first example other than diptera, and revealed functional conservation of vg and sd in wing formation.To identify the structure from which insect wing was evolved, it is important to understand the ancestral wing gene function in apterygote. We focus on the firebrat Thermobia domestica (Insecta ; Thysanura). Since Thysanura is phylogenetically the closest relative of pterygote, it would be a key insect to elucidate wing origin. To investigate the function of apterygote wing master gene ortholog, we developed RNAi method as a gene functional analysis tool in Thermobia. We are under the analysis of wing genes using the RNAi method.