[초청강연] Phylogenomics yields new insight into the evolution of plant feeding beetles

Phylogenomics yields new insight into the evolution of plant feeding beetles

Seunggwan Shin

School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Recent advances in bioinformatics and data provide new opportunities to resolve longstanding
questions in insect evolution. Beetles (Coleoptera) arguably comprise the most diverse order of
insects. Because of their varied trophic habits, including specialized forms of plant-feeding, they
are well-suited for studying the evolution of trophic habits and life histories. However, relatively
little remains known about the evolution and genomic basis of plant-feeding in beetles. We
inferred the phylogeny of beetles (order Coleoptera) from nearly 5000 nuclear genes and traced
the evolution of beetle genes promoting herbivory using 154 transcriptomes or genomes.
Phylogenomic analyses resolved previously controversial beetle relationships, dated the origin of
beetles to the Carboniferous, and supported the co-diversification of beetles and angiosperms.
Moreover, we reconstructed the diversification of plant-feeding beetles, which account for nearly
half of all beetle species, following convergent horizontal transfers of bacterial and fungal genes
enabling the digestion of plant cell walls. Our findings clarify beetle phylogenetic relationships
and reveal new insights into the evolution of plant-feeding and beetle diversity. Furthermore, this
study shows how analyses of large-scale genomic data are revealing the evolution and genomic
basis of insect biodiversity