Evolution of pattern formation in insects

强制性多胚发育，即多个胚胎由一个受精卵形成，在动物的六个不同门中至少进化了15次，代表了发育进化中最迷人的故事之一。导致多胚现象的机制和形成多胚发育程序进化的力量仍然知之甚少。最近对内寄生蜂Copidosoma floridanum多胚发育的研究表明，多胚的进化与细胞水平上的发育新奇性的进化有关，如总卵裂、胚胎和胚外命运的早期特化以及特定的细胞增殖阶段。这些变化累积起来导致从一个卵子形成数千个胚胎。 利用我们以前对多胚黄蜂Copidosoma的工作和我们在节肢动物基因组学方面的领导地位，我们对Copidosoma floridanum的基因组进行了测序，旨在揭示多胚的基因组特征。最近测序的基因组的单胚hypertera蜜蜂和寄生蜂Nasonia放置我们在一个位置，以调查多胚的进化，使用比较基因组学的方法。在这个提议中，我的目标是：1）组装测序的Copidosoma基因组; 2）进行结构和功能基因组注释; 3）对选定的发育阶段进行转录分析，以帮助注释和理解阶段特异性发育程序; 4）在蜜蜂，Nasonia和Copidosoma之间进行比较基因组分析，以了解导致多胚进化的基因组变化。

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.