Chinese researchers uncover secrets behind adult fireflies' light organs

BEIJING -- Chinese researchers have recently revealed key mechanisms related to the development of adult light organs in fireflies, providing new insights to the study of bioluminescence and the flash signal control in insects.

Adult fireflies exhibit unique flashing courtship signals, emitted by specialized light organs, which develop mostly independently from larval light organs during the pupal stage. The mechanisms of adult light organ development have not been thoroughly studied.

In this regard, researchers at the Huazhong Agricultural University used comparative genomics, comparative transcriptomics and gene interference techniques to study the light organs in the early, middle and late development of the firefly Aquatica leii.

They discovered that the key homeobox transcription factors AlAbd-B and AlUnc-4 regulate the development of adult light organs and bioluminescence in the fireflies. Interference with the expression of AlAbd-B and AlUnc-4 genes would result in undeveloped or non-luminescent adult light organs. AlAbd-B regulates AlUnc-4, and they interact with each other.

The shape and flash frequency of adult light organs are the basis of the firefly biodiversity, said Fu Xinhua, a professor at the university, adding that figuring out the development mechanisms is conducive to the protection of the firefly biodiversity.

The discovery was published in the journal Nature Communication.