Researchers reconstruct 500 million years of insect evolution

Researchers reconstruct 500 million years of insect evolution. Created by Robert M. Waterhouse, reuse licensed under CC BY 4. Arthropods, a group of animals including next to insects also spiders or crustaceans, make up the most species-rich and diverse group of animals on Earth, with numerous adaptations that have allowed them to exploit all major ecosystems. However, what genetic mechanisms are responsible for their great evolutionary success' A team of international researchers studied now these species and tracked the evolutionary origin of key adaptations. "We could, for the first time study an extremely long time scale of 500 million years at unprecedented resolution. It was exciting to disentangle the various signals underlying adaptation, which takes place through mutations on a gene level as well as a sub-genic level in the form of rearrangements of smaller modules, called protein domains. It is stunning to see how evolution uses so many mechanisms to create novel functions, phenotypes and morphologies just by rewiring or new combinations of existing material", says co-author Elias Dohmen from the Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity at Münster University.