Mentor(s): Zheng Li, Ph.D.

The extensive production of wax is a key innovation that has promoted the protection of scale insects (Ross et al. 2009). Wax biosynthesis is controlled through the expression of different genes in epidermal tissue. The importance of the expression of wax biosynthesis genes has been studied, but the genomic basis of these genes is not fully understood (Gullan et al. 1997). This project aims to understand how key innovations arose from the genome by studying the genomic basis of wax production in scale insects. This will be studied through the identification of candidate wax biosynthesis genes in the crapemyrtle bark scale, Acanthococcus lagerstroemiae, inference of how these genes diversified, and exploration of their copy numbers in scale insects and other hemipteran insects.

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