Insect Sex Determination and Development

Qiaowei (Miya) Pan

A central question in evolutionary biology is why some developmental processes remain highly conserved across lineages, while others evolve with remarkable dynamism. Our research addresses this question by studying sex determination, a fundamental developmental process among eukaryotes with exceptionally diverse molecular bases and striking differences in evolutionary tempo among lineages.

While most existing research focuses on sex chromosome systems, many organisms rely on entirely different molecular mechanisms. Our group seeks to establish new comparative systems to uncover novel molecular mechanisms and the general principles that govern the emergence and diversification of sex-determination mechanisms. Our research focuses on haplodiploidy, a sex-determination system that has repeatedly evolved and is found in roughly 15% of animals, including major pollinators and agricultural pests. We aim to understand the molecular mechanism, evolutionary dynamics and developmental innovations of haplodiploid sex determination systems.