Genomics of speciation: molecular basis of host adaptation and reproductive isolation in insects

人们对生物起源的思考已经有几千年了。自从现代进化理论的结晶以来，识别导致新物种形成的遗传变化一直是生物学最基本的目标之一。对于大多数进化生物学家来说，物种形成是不同谱系之间基因交换（生殖隔离）障碍的同义词。尽管存在于所有生物体中的基因数量巨大，但只有相对较少的基因，即所谓的“物种形成基因”，可能与物种的起源有关。我的研究重点是昆虫物种形成基因的识别和表征，昆虫是地球上最多样化的动物群体。为此，我的研究小组结合蛋白质组学，人口基因组学和定量/功能遗传学技术，以确定基因/基因组区域负责广泛的适应，导致人口分化和生殖隔离。

People have thought about biological origins for millennia. Ever since the crystallization of the modern evolutionary theory, identifying the genetic changes that lead to the formation of new species has been one of the most fundamental goals in Biology. For most evolutionary biologists, speciation is synonymous with the evolution of barriers to gene exchange (reproductive isolation) between diverging lineages. Despite the vast number of genes present in all organisms only relatively few genes, so called "speciation genes", are presumably involved in the origins of the species. My research focuses on the identification and characterization of speciation genes in insects, the most diverse group of animals on the Earth. To do so, my research group combines proteomics, population genomics, and quantitative/functional genetics techniques to identify genes/genomic regions responsible for a broad range of adaptations leading to population differentiation and reproductive isolation.