Moulting in Pancrustacea is characterised by both deeply conserved and recently evolved gene modules

Arthropods such as insects and crustaceans, which together form the monophyletic group Pancrustacea, possess a rigid chitinous exoskeleton that must be periodically shed through moulting to allow growth and morphological change. Although moulting is a deeply conserved developmental process across Arthropoda, our understanding of its molecular mechanisms is still largely derived from insect model species. Lineage-specific innovations and losses of moulting related genes raise fundamental questions on the extent of its conservation outside non-insect arthropods. Here, we investigate the evolutionary conservation of moulting gene expression across five representative pancrustacean species using publicly available transcriptomic datasets. Changes in gene expression during moulting are characterized by both deeply conserved and lineage-specific gene modules. Temporal gene expression analyses reveal that these lineage-specific signatures are not uniformly distributed across the moulting process: the middle transitional phase is more lineage-specific, thereby exhibiting an inverse hourglass pattern. This is likely due to life-history specific processes, development of the cuticle and specialized structures of the exoskeleton. Overall, this study provides evidence for both the evolutionary conservation and divergence of this key post-embryonic developmental process and highlights the modular architecture of the moulting programme.