Martin Klingler

The paper expands an RNAi screen in Tribolium castaneum to assess gene function diversity between beetles and flies, finding that 50% of functions are shared while others are specific to one species.

The paper shows that gap gene expression in Tribolium castaneum is controlled by a threshold-free Speed Regulation mechanism rather than a threshold-based French Flag model.

The paper identifies an ancestral developmental module involving micropeptides and transcription factors that regulates insect embryonic patterning, showing functional plasticity despite evolutionary divergence.