Insect Evo-Devo: Exploring Developmental Transcriptomes and Evolutionary Conservation Across Insect Phylogeny

Summary

My thesis looks at how the embryos of insects develop and how this process changed over evolution. I studied four different species, the firebrat Thermobia domestica, the mayfly Ephemera vulgata, the damselfly Ischnura elegans, and the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis, which represent important stages in insect evolution and different ways of developing. Using gene expression data and microscopy, I put together detailed timelines of how their embryos develop. T. domestica and E. vulgata we studied in depth, where I found major shifts in gene activity at key stages, and showed that Hox genes in E. vulgata follows an ancient pattern of activation. By comparing all the species, including the well-studied fruitfly, I discovered that conservation in development doesn’t always peak in the middle, as previously found. It shifts to earlier stages as more distant relatives are compared. These findings highlight why studying non-model species is so important.