As members of the order Coleoptera, a highly diverse group of insects, the red flour beetle has specially modified wings called elytra for protection. While the wing gene network in other model organisms, such as D. melanogaster, is well studied, the genes that make up the wing gene network and relationships between these genes remain understudied in beetles. Reverse genetics has become the norm in modern science, but forward genetics can function as a less biased approach because the mutant phenotype that results from a genetic mutation is already known. We plan to perform double crosses with eight Tribolium castaneum (the red flour beetle) lines with elytron mutations that we received from the USDA. By determining the epistatic relationships of the genes causing these mutations, we will be able to form a “hierarchy” of sorts which will provide new insights into the beetle wing gene network. The conclusions from this research help us to connect the dots of the genes that caused the formation of wings in the class Insecta and more specifically of elytra in the order Coleoptera.
Author(s): Emily Davidson; Yoshinori Tomoyasu, PhD
Advisor(s): Yoshinori Tomoyasu Department of Biology
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