Transcriptomic basis underlying the evolution of female horn plasticity in scarab beetles
Together, our results show that exaggerated female horns arise through a mosaic of conserved and lineage-specific regulatory mechanisms, with strong sex bias in transcriptional control. More generally, our findings highlight how conserved developmental toolkits can be rewired in lineage- and sex-specific ways to evolve novel, plastic, and exaggerated traits.
Authors
- Yonggang Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3438-7296)
- Cuicui Qi
- Wenqing Zhang
Institutions
- Southwest University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Frontiers in Zoology
- Published
- 2026-02-05
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s12983-026-00597-3
- Primary Topic
- Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Natural Science Foundation of Chongqing
- Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities