Int. J. Dev. Biol. 64: 159 - 165 (2020)

https://doi.org/10.1387/ijdb.190133LS

Vol 64, Issue 1-2-3

Special Issue: Developmental Biology in India - First Part

Haltere development in D. melanogaster: implications for the evolution of appendage size, shape and function

Published: 23 June 2020

Soumen Khan¹, C. Dilsha¹ and LS Shashidhara*^,1,2

¹Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Pune, Pune, India and ²Ashoka University, Sonepat, Haryana, India

Abstract

Differential specification of dorsal flight appendages, wing and haltere, in Drosophila provides an excellent model system to address a number of important questions in developmental biology at the levels of molecules, pathways, tissues, organs, organisms and evolution. Here we discuss the mechanism by which the Hox protein Ubx recognizes and regulates its downstream targets, implications of the same in growth control at cellular and organ level and finally the evolution of haltere from ancestral hindwings in other holometabolous insects.

Keywords

Ultrabithorax, Drosophila, wing, haltere, evolution, Bombyx, Apis, Tribolium, ChIP-seq, RNA-seq