Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon, CNRS UMR 5242, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 46 allée d'Italie, 69364 Lyon, France
Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon, CNRS UMR 5242, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 46 allée d'Italie, 69364 Lyon, France.
Proc Biol Sci. 2018 Nov 28;285(1892):20182387. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2018.2387.
The semi-aquatic bugs (Heteroptera, Gerromorpha) conquered water surfaces worldwide and diversified to occupy puddles, ponds, streams, lakes, mangroves and even oceans. Critical to this lifestyle is the evolution of sets of hairs that allow these insects to maintain their body weight on the water surface and protect the animals against wetting and drowning. In addition, the legs of these insects are equipped with various grooming combs that are important for cleaning and tidying the hair layers for optimal functional efficiency. Here we show that the hairs covering the legs of water striders represent innervated bristles. Genomic and transcriptomic analyses revealed that in water striders the complex, known to control bristle development in flies, contains only the () gene owing to the loss of the gene Using RNA interference, we show that plays a pivotal role in the development of both bristles and grooming combs in water striders. Our data suggest that the locus may have contributed to the adaptation to water surface lifestyle through shaping the hydrophobic bristles that prevent water striders from wetting and allow them to exploit water surface tension.
半水生昆虫（半翅目，水生蝽）在全球范围内征服了水面，并多样化以占领水坑、池塘、溪流、湖泊、红树林，甚至海洋。这种生活方式的关键是进化出了一系列毛发，使这些昆虫能够在水面上保持体重，并保护动物免受浸湿和淹死。此外，这些昆虫的腿部配备了各种梳理梳，这对于清洁和整理毛发层以实现最佳功能效率非常重要。在这里，我们表明覆盖在水黾腿部的毛发代表有神经支配的刚毛。基因组和转录组分析表明，在水黾中，已知控制蝇类刚毛发育的复杂基因仅包含 ()基因，因为基因 的缺失。我们使用 RNA 干扰表明，在水黾中， 基因在刚毛和梳理梳的发育中都起着关键作用。我们的数据表明， 基因座可能通过塑造疏水性刚毛来促进对水面生活方式的适应，这些刚毛防止水黾浸湿，并使它们能够利用水面张力。
