Lobes or Gills, Exploring the Origin of Insect Wings

这个世界充满了迷人的生命多样性。了解驱动（并继续驱动）这种惊人多样性的机制不仅对科学，而且对生命本身都很重要。对生命历史的了解影响着我们的思维方式、文化和社会。直到最近，科学家们才终于开始了解新的身体结构（新结构）是如何在进化过程中出现的。这个项目使用这种新奇事物的一个核心例子来探索一个长达一个世纪的问题：昆虫的翅膀是从哪里来的？翅膀的获得使昆虫在地球仪上的扩张取得了巨大的成功。然而，昆虫翅膀的起源仍然是一个谜，被认为是生物学上的一个主要难题。通过分子和发育分析，将从一系列广泛的昆虫和其他节肢动物中鉴定出与翅膀有关的组织，这将有助于重建昆虫翅膀的进化历史。获得一个全面的观点昆虫翅膀的进化将反过来推进我们的知识的发展基础的发展新结构的发展一般。该研究还将进一步建立几种生物体作为进一步遗传研究的替代模型。此外，该项目还将通过建立面向学生的众包工作基础设施，使研究人员和学生能够公开分享他们的基因破坏分析结果，从而促进合作机会，从而加强本科科学教育。经过世纪的辩论和观察，最终形成了两个关于昆虫翅膀起源的突出假设。其中一种假说，称为旁叶假说，将起源与背胸的外侧延伸，即旁叶联系起来。第二个假说，即“神经根”假说，将起源与近端腿节和源于这些节的分支（出口）联系起来。尽管人们为揭开昆虫翅膀的起源付出了越来越多的努力，但两种假说都未能超越另一种假说。Tomoyasu实验室先前使用赤拟谷盗进行的分析导致了一种组合翅膀起源假说，该假说认为昆虫翅膀具有双重起源，两种不相关组织的合并是进化过程中发展这种形态学上新颖结构的关键一步。这一假说的进一步证据将通过（i）阐明这两种组织如何合并形成一个完整的翅膀结构在赤拟谷盗，（ii）确定翅膀（系列）同系物从三个额外的物种（潜水甲虫，蟑螂，甲壳类动物），以获得支持的假说从更广泛的分类广度。RNA干扰和表达分析，沿着基于CRISPR/Cas9的基因组编辑技术，将用于识别和跟踪这些生物中与翅膀相关的组织的发育。在这些生物体中确定的翼（系列）同源物与赤拟谷盗的形态学比较，以及与拟议的翅膀起源将允许建设一个更完整的历史的昆虫翅膀的进化。

The world is full of a fascinating diversity of life. Understanding the mechanism that has driven (and continues to drive) this amazing diversity is important, not only for science, but also for life itself. Knowledge of the history of life affects our way of thinking, our culture, and our society. Only recently, scientists have finally begun to understand how new body structures (novel structures) emerge during evolution. This project uses a core example of this novelty to explore a century-long question; where did the insect wing come from? Acquisition of wings has allowed the tremendously successful expansion of insects over the globe. However, the origin of insect wings remains a mystery and is regarded as a chief conundrum in biology. Through molecular and developmental analyses, wing-related tissues will be identified from a wide set of insects and other arthropods, which will allow for a reconstruction of the evolutionary history of insect wings. Gaining a comprehensive view of insect wing evolution will in turn advance our knowledge of the developmental basis underlying the development of new structures in general. The research will also further establish several organisms as alternative models for further genetic studies. In addition, this project will enhance undergraduate science education through establishing an infrastructure for student-oriented crowdsourcing efforts allowing researchers and students to publicly share the results of their gene disruption analyses and thus facilitate collaboration opportunities.Over a century of debates and observations have culminated into two prominent hypotheses on the insect wing origin. One hypothesis, termed the paranotal hypothesis, connects the origin to the lateral extension of the dorsal thorax, the paranotal lobe. The second hypothesis, the exite hypothesis, connects the origin to the proximal leg segments and the branches (exites) stemming from these segments. Despite accumulating efforts to unveil the origin of insect wings, neither hypothesis has been able to surpass the other. A previous analysis in the Tomoyasu laboratory using Tribolium beetles has led to a combinational wing origin hypothesis, which states that insect wings have a dual origin, and that the merger of two unrelated tissues has been a key step in developing this morphologically novel structure during evolution. Further evidence for this hypothesis will be explored via (i) elucidating how the two tissues merge to form a complete wing structure in Tribolium, and (ii) identifying wing (serial) homologs from three additional species (a diving beetle, a cockroach, and a crustacean) to gain support of the hypothesis from a wider taxonomic breadth. RNA interference and expression analyses, along with CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing techniques, will be used to identify and follow the development of wing-related tissues in these organisms. The morphological comparison of the identified wing (serial) homologs in these organisms with those of Tribolium, as well as with the proposed wing origins will allow for the construction of a more complete history of the evolution of insect wings.