Zhou Hang, Shu Runguo, Zhang Chaowei, Xiao Yiqi, Jing Dong, Tang Jiejing, Cao Zixiong, Chen Xi, Mei Yang, Li Fei
Key Laboratory of Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insects of Zhejiang Province, Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, Zhejiang Province, China.
Object Research Systems (ORS) Inc, 760 Saint-Paul St W, Montreal, Quebec H3C 1M4, Canada.
iScience. 2024 Sep 17;27(10):110898. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.110898. eCollection 2024 Oct 18.
Insect metamorphosis is a captivating aspect of animal research. To address the controversy regarding the developmental correspondence between hemimetabolous and holometabolous insects, we utilized non-destructive micro-computed tomography (CT) imaging and RNA-seq to examine wing growth and transcriptome profiles across juvenile stages in the , , and , with distinct metamorphic strategies. Micro-CT revealed that over 88% of wing volume increase in ladybirds and moths occurs during the prepupal-pupal transition, similar to locust nymphs. Developmental transcriptome clustering demonstrated that gene expression patterns more closely resembled those between ladybird/moth prepupae/pupae and locust nymphs, whereas holometabolous larvae exhibited distinct profiles. Notably, gene expression specificity increased across juvenile stages with more recent species divergence. Genes highly expressed around the prepupal/pupal stages accumulated higher evolutionary rates. These integrated findings unveil commonalities in juvenile stage development among the locust, ladybird, and moth, providing insights into the evolution of metamorphosis within neopteran insects.
昆虫变态是动物研究中一个引人入胜的方面。为了解决关于不完全变态和完全变态昆虫发育对应关系的争议，我们利用无损微计算机断层扫描（CT）成像和RNA测序来研究具有不同变态策略的蝗虫、瓢虫和蛾类在幼虫阶段的翅膀生长和转录组概况。微CT显示，瓢虫和蛾类超过88%的翅膀体积增加发生在预蛹-蛹转变期间，这与蝗虫若虫相似。发育转录组聚类表明，基因表达模式与瓢虫/蛾类预蛹/蛹和蝗虫若虫之间的模式更为相似，而完全变态幼虫则表现出不同的特征。值得注意的是，随着物种分化时间的增加，基因表达特异性在幼虫阶段逐渐增强。在预蛹/蛹阶段高度表达的基因积累了更高的进化速率。这些综合研究结果揭示了蝗虫、瓢虫和蛾类在幼虫阶段发育的共性，为新翅类昆虫变态的进化提供了见解。
