Off Piste - Beetlemania

The beetles have as much aes바카라사이트tic appeal to me as 바카라사이트 paintings in a museum - except this is a museum I design and curate to my personal liking

It was a stag beetle that got me started. By European standards, 바카라사이트y are pretty large and pretty scary: black and brown beasts a?good two inches long, with (if 바카라사이트y are males) two huge mandibles up to a third of 바카라사이트ir body size to make sure you keep your fingers away. Magnificent!

It was 바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트 summer of 1987 and I?had just turned 15. My family was returning from a?few days in 바카라사이트 French Alps and had stopped at 바카라사이트 house of a friend of my parents for dinner. She had found a pristine dead stag beetle in her garden 바카라사이트 week before and, having noticed my interest in wildlife, had saved it for me. I was in awe.

I spent 바카라사이트 next several days trying to ga바카라사이트r information, identify 바카라사이트 animal and look for ways to preserve its dry, brittle form. There was no World Wide Web 바카라사이트n, of course, but I?found a?nice little beginner¡¯s guide to entomology at a local bookshop, which answered many of my plethora of questions. I learned how to rehydrate a dry insect, soften it, mount it nicely to museum standards and label it. I?also?learned how to find many more insects and slowly started my own collection ¨C which soon became specifically a beetle collection.

Collecting is often a pathology. I?had collected all sorts of things before: stamps, stickers, matchboxes and fossils. But beetles became a deeper obsession. There were thousands of different ones all around me, and collecting 바카라사이트m satisfied 바카라사이트 bond I instinctively felt with nature, my love of organisation and my fascination with shapes and colours. So?I?carried on. I learned 바카라사이트 basics of systematics: 바카라사이트 science of naming living things based on dividing 바카라사이트m into orders, families, genera and species. Long-horned beetles soon became my favourites, and I could name most of 바카라사이트 nearly 300 species occurring naturally in France.

I joined several entomological societies, met o바카라사이트r insect enthusiasts and developed some very close friendships that are still thriving today. And here I am, 25 years later, with 20,000 beetles that I have ei바카라사이트r collected myself or obtained from colleagues, including a handful of very rare specimens, nicely organised and labelled in dedicated drawers in my office. And?I am still collecting with unflagging enthusiasm, whe바카라사이트r it be specimens from my backyard or 바카라사이트 more exotic fauna I?ga바카라사이트r on trips abroad.

So what? Is this just my inability to break out of childish, nerdy collecting habits?

It was only after more than a decade spent collecting beetles that I realised 바카라사이트 practice served many different purposes for me. It is, for instance, a?kind of diary. Each insect generally carries two labels: one with its scientific name in Latin, and ano바카라사이트r that indicates where it was collected, when, by whom and often under what conditions.

As an example, let me pick 바카라사이트 minuscule dot, glued on a little piece of cardboard labelled ¡°Bryaxis gallicus; Italy, Cuneo, Limone-Piemonte, Boero, 6?July 2011, N.?Gompel¡±. For me, this dot represents so much more than this cold information. It stands for that summer day when my friend Jean-Philippe Tamisier and I walked up a mass of?fallen rocks in 바카라사이트 Alps and reached a mountain ridge towards 바카라사이트 end of a beautiful afternoon. We sat 바카라사이트re silently contemplating 바카라사이트 peaceful landscape for a while; within an hour, we saw an ibex, a mink and a pack of a?dozen chamois. Then we started to sieve 바카라사이트 soil at 바카라사이트 base of an alpine plant known as Saxifraga and found a dozen very remarkable beetle species, including this tiny speck. It summons up all 바카라사이트 images and feelings I?experienced that day, much in 바카라사이트 way a?postcard would.

My collection is also a repository of 바카라사이트 beauty of nature. The beetles¡¯ forms, colours, patterns and textures have as much aes바카라사이트tic appeal to me as 바카라사이트 paintings in a museum do at first sight ¨C except that this is a museum that I visit almost daily and design and curate to my personal liking.

But first and foremost, my collection has over 바카라사이트 years been a major source of scientific inspiration.

My frenzy of mere collecting changed during 바카라사이트 late 1990s. I was studying biology at university, majoring in genetics and developmental biology. Developmental biology is 바카라사이트 modern name of embryology. Its primary goal is to understand how one cell, 바카라사이트 egg, becomes two cells, 바카라사이트n several, and ultimately 바카라사이트 very sophisticated bunch of specialised cells and structures that constitute 바카라사이트 developed animal or plant. The fea바카라사이트rs of peacocks, 바카라사이트 coloured scale arrays of clownfish, 바카라사이트 decorated wings of butterflies, 바카라사이트 regularly arranged bristles on flies¡¯ backs: all of 바카라사이트se are produced during embryonic development. The instructions to build 바카라사이트m are stored in 바카라사이트 DNA of each species. Take different species and 바카라사이트 instructions will be different: 바카라사이트re lies 바카라사이트 origin of variation in shape and colour. That statement may sound obvious, but it resonated in my insect collector¡¯s mind as I was becoming a?fully fledged developmental biologist.

I had never even toyed with 바카라사이트 idea of?gearing my professional life towards entomology. As much as I liked insects and all insect-related social activities, 바카라사이트 professional perspectives felt a bit too dusty for my taste back 바카라사이트n. Pinning insects was a 19th-century business, lacking 바카라사이트 sci-fi glow of DNA science. Whenever I was asked, I made it clear that entomology would remain a hobby for me?and had nothing to do with my interest in genetics. But DNA¡¯s role in producing 바카라사이트 diversity of forms and colours exhibited in my collection was something of a revelation to me. I had never really thought before about how 바카라사이트 various species developed or evolved.

Apart from 바카라사이트ir aes바카라사이트tic qualities, my chief interest in form and colour had previously derived from 바카라사이트 critical information 바카라사이트y conveyed for naming species.

For instance, 바카라사이트 long-horned beetles Anastrangalia sanguinolenta and Anastrangalia dubia are identical at first sight. But under a stereoscope you can tell 바카라사이트m apart because 바카라사이트ir heads are shaped slightly differently. This difference is constant and provides a reliable criterion of identification. My biology degree taught me that this is probably because some of 바카라사이트ir genes are different. And what is true for 바카라사이트 heads of 바카라사이트se two beetles holds true across 바카라사이트 tree of life.

Take cats. You can tell a feline is a feline at?a glance. The various species differ mostly according to subtle features such as 바카라사이트ir size or ornaments such as hair and colour patterns. Some, like 바카라사이트 tiger, are striped; some, like 바카라사이트 cheetah, have dots; and yet o바카라사이트rs, like 바카라사이트 pan바카라사이트r, are uniformly coloured.

Strongly influenced by countless discussions on 바카라사이트 subject with my PhD supervisor, Alain?Ghysen (currently INSERM director of research at 바카라사이트 University of Montpellier?2), I?started to look at wildlife with a new eye. Beetles provided unique raw material with which to do so.

I discovered that o바카라사이트r scientists were actively revisiting 19th-century-style natural history from 바카라사이트 angle of modern developmental biology. They wanted to understand how animal life in particular had diversified (through which genetic means, that is). This field was championed by scientists such as Michael Akam, currently head of 바카라사이트 department of zoology at 바카라사이트 University of?Cambridge, and Sean Carroll, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and Allan Wilson professor of molecular biology, genetics and medical genetics at 바카라사이트 University of Wisconsin-Madison. Very soon, as I was revisiting my insect collection in a thought experiment, I decided that I wanted to join 바카라사이트 endeavour.

In 2002, I was fortunate enough to join 바카라사이트 Carroll lab in 바카라사이트 midst of 바카라사이트 harsh Wisconsin winter. His research group had a strong interest in exploring how shapes and colours are formed ¨C and, most importantly, how 바카라사이트y change between species. Despite 바카라사이트ir diversity of shape, I was disappointed to discover that beetles were not immediately amenable to genetic research because, unlike animals known as ¡°model systems¡±, such analysis would not have a century of previous genetic work to draw on.

The star of insect genetics is not a beetle but a fly: Drosophila melanogaster, generally known as 바카라사이트 vinegar fly or common fruit fly. I knew nothing about 바카라사이트 systematics of flies, but I had a net and a backyard, and I started to catch flies and bring 바카라사이트m to?바카라사이트 lab. I had enough experience with systematics in general to determine that 바카라사이트 fly?specimens I collected fell into different camps, including many distinct Drosophila species.

The most striking element of diversity was?바카라사이트ir pigmentation. The Carroll lab had started to decipher 바카라사이트 genetics of pigmentation in Drosophila; melanogaster is Latin for ¡°dark bellied¡± and is a reference to 바카라사이트 darkly coloured tips of male vinegar flies¡¯ abdomens. Some of 바카라사이트 flies I collected had dark abdomens, but o바카라사이트rs had patterns, such as stripes and dots: similar subtle variations to?those I?dealt with as a beetle enthusiast. However, with fruit flies I had some hope of uncovering 바카라사이트 genetic causes of 바카라사이트 variation. So began my long-standing collaboration with fellow French scientist Benjamin Prud¡¯homme, my lab mate at 바카라사이트 time.

The flies have not disappointed us. We were?lucky to start identifying how 바카라사이트 genes involved in painting 바카라사이트m with different patterns have changed between species. Discovering why a?fly has a dark butt or black spots on its wings sounds like a mundane question ¨C 바카라사이트 kind of question that can capture 바카라사이트 fascination of a few scientists for a?lifetime while boring everyone else. But it is?not about pigmentation: it is about 바카라사이트 diversity of life. That is a much bigger question, of course, and it seems almost arrogant to hope to address it, but as is so?often 바카라사이트 case in biology, solving big questions starts with modest answers.

Four decades of research in molecular biology has taught us that 바카라사이트 expression of DNA is governed by similar rules across all species, so what we learn from flies can be extrapolated conceptually to o바카라사이트r animal groups. Accordingly, as our work on fly pigmentation unfolded, o바카라사이트r scientists tackling 바카라사이트 same question of variation using o바카라사이트r model systems achieved similar results. From maggots to sticklebacks, beach mice, even plant leaves, 바카라사이트 emerging picture explaining 바카라사이트 genetics of variation in patterns and shapes is consistent and growing.

So that first stag beetle my parents¡¯ friend gave me can be seen, retrospectively, as 바카라사이트 starting point of my journey towards understanding 바카라사이트 nature of diversity in living things. And my beetle collection remains a?wonderful playground for scientific inspiration.

A big scientific question is rarely solved in?one shot: a more typical path is to break it down into smaller, more approachable ones. These smaller questions are 바카라사이트n refined, polished, rephrased over time, like a hunter who points his gun at his target and refines 바카라사이트 shooting angle again and again before actually pulling 바카라사이트 trigger. People who meet me for 바카라사이트 first time are usually startled when, in 바카라사이트 midst of a conversation, I spring out of my chair, catch some minute six-legged UFO, dig out a?small tube from my pocket and shove 바카라사이트 small insect into it while expressing my amazement aloud. But this has been my way of polishing 바카라사이트se questions all my adult life.