Origin of insect wings revealed by gene editing

摘要

INSECTS first evolved wings around 400 million years ago, and winged insects have thrived ever since. But how did that crucial first step happen? Biologists have debated several rival ideas for over a century, but no fossil insects with "proto-wings" have been found, so there have been no conclusions. Now two groups have used the gene-editing method CRISPR to narrow down the possibilities.