Abstract
The wings of Lepidoptera stand out amongst insects for their diversity in colour and shape. The mechanisms controlling the development of these, however, are poorly understood. The research into the imaginal wing discs of Drosophila melanogaster has provided a platform of knowledge to now expand upon in other species. As the majority of Diptera (true flies) including D. melanogaster show very little diversity in their wing shape and structure, it is important to understand wing development in more diverse insects. That way no assumptions are made based upon one species developmental process alone. The Wax Moth, Galleria mellonella, is an ideal candidate for investigating genes involved in wing development to expand our understanding of this developmental process. This is because it has a complete genome sequence available and is already established within New Zealand therefore accessible for experimental work.
Here, we use in-situ hybridisation in G. mellonella visualise the expression patterns of the genes in D. melanogaster that control the formation of the anterior/posterior boundary, dorsal/ventral boundary, and wing vein development. We show these genes are evolutionarily conserved between flies and moths find additional expression within novel areas of the imaginal wing disc for some genes. The genes producing these expression patterns were validated with transcriptomics, to ensure that it truly was the mRNA of the gene of interest being observed. Experiments to investigate gene function were trialled, though this will need to be expanded upon in future work. This work in G. mellonella provides a basis to understand the evolution of wing shape and size in Lepidoptera. Allowing for us to further understand the genetic processes that generate such phenotypic diversity within the animal kingdom.