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?
Lab website: Bellés Lab
Investigador principal
Proyectos en curso
Publicaciones
Wexler J.; Delaney E.; Belles X.; Schal C.; Wada-Katsumata A.; Amicucci M.; Kopp A. 2019. Hemimetabolous insects elucidate the origin of sexual development via
alternative splicing. E Life. doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47490
Ventos A.; Ylla G. and Belles X. 2019. Zelda and the maternal-to-zygotic transition in cockroaches. The Febs Journal. doi: 10.1111/febs.14856
Kamsoi O.; Belles X. 2019. Myoglianin triggers the pre-metamorphosis stage in hemimetabolan insects.. the fased journal. doi: 10.1096/fj.201801511R
Belles X 2019. Krüppel homolog 1 and E93: The doorkeeper and the key to insect metamorphosis. Wiley Online Library. doi:10.1002/arch.21609
Belles X 2019. The innovation of the final moult and the origin of insect metamorphosis. Royal Society. Doi: org/10.1098/rstb.2018.0415