Julianne N Peláez, Andrew D Gloss, Benjamin Goldman-Huertas, Bernard Kim, Richard T Lapoint, Giovani Pimentel-Solorio, Kirsten I Verster, Jessica M Aguilar, Anna C Nelson Dittrich, Malvika Singhal, Hiromu C Suzuki, Teruyuki Matsunaga, Ellie E Armstrong, Joseph L M Charboneau, Simon C Groen, David H Hembry, Christopher J Ochoa, Timothy K O'Connor, Stefan Prost, Sophie Zaaijer, Paul D Nabity, Jiarui Wang, Esteban Rodas, Irene Liang, Noah K Whiteman
Herbivorous insects are exceptionally diverse, accounting for a quarter of all known eukaryotic species, but the genomic basis of adaptations that enabled this dietary transition remains poorly understood. Many studies have suggested that expansions and contractions of chemosensory and detoxification gene families - genes directly mediating interactions with plant chemical defenses - underlie successful plant colonization. However, this hypothesis has been challenging to test because the origins of herbivory in many insect lineages are ancient (>150 million years ago [mya]), obscuring genomic evolutionary patterns...
June 15, 2023: G3: Genes—Genomes—Genetics