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Updated: Jul 8, 2026

Light Sheet-based Fluorescence Microscopy of Living or Fixed and Stained Tribolium castaneum Embryos
Published on: April 28, 2017
The evolution of developmental gene networks: lessons from comparative studies on holometabolous insects
1Institute for Molecular Biology and Biotechnology , Vassilika Vouton, 711 10 Iraklio, Crete, Greece. apeel@imbb.forth.gr
Abstract:
Recent comparative studies have revealed significant differences in the developmental gene networks operating in three holometabolous insects: the beetle Tribolium castaneum, the parasitic wasp Nasonia vitripennis and the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster. I discuss these differences in relation to divergent and convergent changes in cellular embryology. I speculate on how segmentation gene networks have evolved to operate in divergent embryological contexts, and highlight the role that co-option might have played in this process. I argue that insects represent an important example of how diversification in life-history strategies between lineages can lead to divergence in the genetic and cellular mechanisms controlling the development of homologous adult structures.
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