Gene silencing in the harvestman

Establishment of functional techniques is a key step toward testing hypotheses in evolutionary developmental biology. Through an EDEN fellowship in 2012, I recently established a protocol for zygotic RNAi in the harvestman Phalangium opilio.


Knockdown of the leg gap gene Distal-less results in a classic phenotype with distal appendage truncations.

Sharma et al. (2013) Evol. Dev. 15: 228-242.

Following up on the gene expression work on the cheliceral dachshund domain, this gene was also silenced in developing embryos. Consistent with its function as a canonical leg gap gene in insects, knockdown of dachshund results in the loss of the podomeres femur and patella in the pedipalps and legs. Additionally, a two-segmented chelicera is associated with the strong knockdown phenotype.

Sharma et al. (2013) Evol. Dev. 15: 228-242.

These data suggest conservation of leg gap gene activity in patterning the proximo-distal appendage axis of evolutionarily distant arthropods.