The object of study of the research group are the mechanisms that regulate the metamorphosis of insects , and how these mechanisms have evolved from ancestral species, with a gradual metamorphosis (like in cockroaches or locusts), to the most modified species, with a discontinuous metamorphosis (like in butterflies or flies). Therefore, the questions that the research group on the Evolution of insect metamorphosis seek to answer are: How did metamorphosis develop in insects? What endocrine and molecular mechanisms led to the evolutionary transition from gradual to discontinuous metamorphosis?
Investigador principal
Miembros del grupo
Proyectos en curso
Publicaciones
Ylla, G; Piulachs, M.D; Belles, X. 2018. Clues about the evolution of insect metamorphosis revealed by comparative transcriptomics of hemimetabolan and holometabolan species. iScience (Cell Press). 4:164–179 doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2018.05.017.
Rubio, M.; Maestro, J.L., Piulachs, M.D.; Belles, X. (2018) Conserved association of Argonaute 1 and 2 proteins with miRNA and siRNA pathways throughout insect evolution, from cockroaches to flies. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Gene Regulatory Mechanisms. 1861(6):554-560 doi: 10.1016/j.bbagrm.2018.04.001
Llonga N.; Ylla G.; Bau J.; Belles X.; Piulachs M.-D. 2018. Diversity of piRNA expression patterns during the ontogeny of the German cockroach. Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution. 330(5):288-295 doi: 10.1002/jez.b.22815
Jongepier E.; Kemena C.; Lopez-Ezquerra A.; Belles X.; Bornberg-Bauer E.; Korb J. 2018. Remodeling of the juvenile hormone pathway through caste-biased gene expression and positive selection along a gradient of termite eusociality. Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution. 330(5):296-304 doi: 10.1002/jez.b.22805
Harrison, M.C.; Jongepier, E.; Robertson, H.M.; …[23 authors]…; Piulachs, M.D: …[6 authors]… ; Ylla, G.; …[3 authors]…; Richards, S.; Belles, X.; Korb, J.; Bornberg-Bauer, E. 2018. Hemimetabolous genomes reveal molecular basis of termite eusociality. Nature Ecology and Evolution. 2(3):557-566 doi: 10.1038/s41559-017-0459-1