美国印第安那大学Yonggang Hu和Armin P. Moczek合作揭示，甲虫的角是由翅膀类的一系列同源物进化而来的。这一研究成果发表在11月22日出版的国际学术期刊《科学》上。

研究人员研究了金龟子科甲虫中前胸角的起源，甲虫是动物界中第二性状特征最明显的生物之一。研究表明，胸前角源于双边来源的组织；指导胸前角形成在功能上需要多种翼形成的基因；并且，在没有Hox输入的情况下，胸前角原基会转变为异位翼。

然而，一旦被诱导，胸前角的转录特征与翅膀和其他翅膀系列同源物的转录特征明显不同。该研究结果证实了胸前角和昆虫翅膀之间的系列同源性，并表明其他昆虫的新特征也可能类似地源自翅膀系列同源物以及随之建立的结构特异性转录图谱。

据介绍，了解个体新颖且复杂的特征如何产生的是进化生物学的一项基本难题。

附：英文原文

Title: Beetle horns evolved from wing serial homologs

Author: Yonggang Hu, David M. Linz, Armin P. Moczek

Issue&Volume: 2019/11/22

Abstract: Understanding how novel complex traits originate is a foundational challenge in evolutionary biology. We investigated the origin of prothoracic horns in scarabaeine beetles, one of the most pronounced examples of secondary sexual traits in the animal kingdom. We show that prothoracic horns derive from bilateral source tissues; that diverse wing genes are functionally required for instructing this process; and that, in the absence of Hox input, prothoracic horn primordia transform to contribute to ectopic wings. Once induced, however, the transcriptional profile of prothoracic horns diverges markedly from that of wings and other wing serial homologs. Our results substantiate the serial homology between prothoracic horns and insects wings and suggest that other insect innovations may derive similarly from wing serial homologs and the concomitant establishment of structure-specific transcriptional landscapes.

DOI: 10.1126/science.aaw2980

Source: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/366/6468/1004