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Wasps, beetles and the beginning of the ends
Author(s) -
McGregor Alistair P.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
bioessays
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.175
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1521-1878
pISSN - 0265-9247
DOI - 10.1002/bies.20429
Subject(s) - biology , nasonia vitripennis , drosophila melanogaster , drosophila embryogenesis , evolutionary biology , drosophila (subgenus) , embryo , larva , insect , zoology , gene , ecology , genetics , pupa , pteromalidae
Abstract Recent papers investigating the genes regulating early embryogenesis in the wasp Nasonia vitripennis 1 and the beetle Tribolium castaneum 2–4 have provided us with important clues as to how early development is controlled in insects other than higher dipterans such as Drosophila melanogaster . The results of these studies demonstrate that in insects that do not have bicoid , anterior patterning is regulated by a combination of maternal orthodenticle and hunchback . Furthermore, during the evolution of long‐germ‐band development, Nasonia and Drosophila may have evolved different mechanisms to pattern posterior segments, marginalising the important role of the terminal system in short‐germ‐band embryos. BioEssays 28: 683–686, 2006. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc