Evolution of pattern formation in insects

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Obligatory polyembryonic development, where multiple embryos are formed from a single zygote, evolved at least fifteen times in six different phyla in animals, representing one of most fascinating stories in evolution of development. The mechanisms leading to polyembryony and the forces that shaped the evolution of the polyembryonic developmental program have remained poorly understood. Recent studies of the polyembryonic development in the endoparasitic wasp Copidosoma floridanum have revealed that the evolution of polyembryony is associated with the evolution of developmental novelties at the cellular level such as total cleavage, early specification of embryonic and extraembryonic fates, and a specific cell proliferation phase. These changes cumulatively result in the formation of thousands of embryos from a single egg. Taking advantage of our previous work on polyembryonic wasp Copidosoma and the leadership of our group in arthropod genomics, we sequenced the genome of Copidosoma floridanum with the aim to uncover the genomic signature of polyembryony. Recently sequenced genomes of the monoembryonic hymenoptera honeybee and parasitic wasp Nasonia place us in a position to investigate the evolution of polyembryony using a comparative genomic approach. In this proposal my aims are to: 1) Assemble the sequenced Copidosoma genome; 2) Perform structural and functional genome annotation; 3) Perform transcriptional profiling of selected developmental stages to aid in annotation and understand stage-specific developmental programs; and 4) Perform comparative genomic analysis between honeybee, Nasonia and Copidosoma to understand the genomic changes that lead to evolution of polyembryony.