Description du projet
Lever le voile sur l’origine évolutionnaire des ailes d’insectes et une nouvelle paire d’yeux
La capacité qu’ont certains insectes à prendre leur envol et à trouver des partenaires dans les airs est due à deux nouveaux organes, les ailes et une paire d’yeux supplémentaire pour les mâles amoureux. Les gènes ou les régions de régulation des gènes (réseaux de régulation des gènes) qui ont interagi pour donner naissance à ce trait évolutif crucial chez les insectes demeurent inconnus. Le projet mayFLYeye, financé par l’UE, étudiera la base génétique et les facteurs clés à l’origine de ces deux nouveaux organes dans un nouveau système modèle d’éphéméroptères, ce qui permettra de révéler les événements particuliers qui ont ponctué l’évolution des réseaux de régulation des gènes responsables de l’émergence de ces organes.
Objectif
The history of life on Earth has been defined by key game-changing events. In animals, this has often been driven by the appearance of novel organs, conferring new capabilities to explore new niches and adaptive landscapes, completely changing the subsequent evolution of certain lineages.
This proposal will focus on one of the most fascinating and revolutionary events in animal history: insect’s conquest of the skies. First, by addressing the origin of the morphological change responsible for this revolution: the origin of wings. Second, by studying one of the multiple cascading effects set off by this initial event that continued shaping flying insects’ anatomy and boosted their diversification: the turbanate eyes of mayflies, a sex-specific extra set of eyes that males use to find mates during flight. We still know very little about these two events, due to the lack of data from key species and the need for multilevel and quantitative approaches. My lab will overcome these difficulties by using a unique experimental platform that I have built over the last five years: the setup of mayflies, a key group to study insect evolution, as a new experimentally tractable model.
We will study the genetic basis and key factors underlying the origin of these two organs, with a multidisciplinary view combining single cell -omics, developmental and functional approaches and, in the case of new eyes, their impact in physiology and diversification. By comparing these two evolutionary processes, we will unveil key common and specific events in the evolution of the gene regulatory networks behind the origin of these two new organs.
This project will generate the most comprehensive picture of two novel organs with huge impact in the evolution and ecology of winged insects and mayflies, answering long-standing evolutionary questions on morphological novelties. This will have a major impact in the way we study and understand the origin of new forms and their transformative nature.
Champ scientifique
Mots‑clés
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Régime de financement
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsInstitution d’accueil
08007 Barcelona
Espagne