{"id":353131,"date":"2026-01-02T16:30:04","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T11:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=353131"},"modified":"2026-01-02T16:30:04","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T11:00:04","slug":"mitochondria-evolution-in-insects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/mitochondria-evolution-in-insects\/","title":{"rendered":"Mitochondria Evolution in Insects"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>News: <\/strong>Researchers from the <strong>University of Guelph (<\/strong><strong>in Canada<\/strong><strong>)<\/strong> found an unexpected link between chromosome sets in insects and the speed of mitochondrial genome evolution.<\/p>\n<h2>About Mitochondria Evolution in Insects<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_353132\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-353132\" style=\"width: 337px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-353132\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Source-Wikipedia.jpg?resize=337%2C220&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Mitochondria Evolution in Insects\" width=\"337\" height=\"220\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Source-Wikipedia.jpg?resize=300%2C196&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Source-Wikipedia.jpg?resize=768%2C503&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Source-Wikipedia.jpg?w=895&amp;ssl=1 895w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 337px) 100vw, 337px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-353132\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source &#8211; Wikipedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>Mitochondria <strong>evolved from bacteria<\/strong> and <strong>retain a small independent genome:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Mitochondria <strong>originated<\/strong> when <strong>an ancient single-celled ancestor engulfed a bacterium<\/strong>, which later <strong>evolved into mitochondria<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Over time, most <strong>bacterial genes moved to the nucleus,<\/strong> leaving a very <strong>small mitochondrial genome<\/strong> that produces <strong>energy<\/strong> for all cellular functions through <strong>adenosine triphosphate (ATP).<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Key Evolutionary Patterns in Insects<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Chromosome Systems in Insects<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Haploid condition:<\/strong> In some insects,<strong> males develop from unfertilised eggs<\/strong> and <strong>carry only one set of chromosomes<\/strong>, which makes them haploid.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Diploid condition:<\/strong> <strong>Females in these insects develop from fertilised eggs <\/strong>and <strong>carry two sets of chromosomes,<\/strong> one from each parent, making them diploid.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Haplo-diploid system:<\/strong> Ants, bees, and wasps follow this system, where females are diploid and males are haploid, and this method is called haplo-diploid sex determination.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Diplo-diploid system:<\/strong> In this system, both males and females are diploid and differ only by their sex chromosomes, while both transmit one chromosome from each pair to their gametes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mitochondrial DNA: <\/strong><strong>Mitochondria are inherited only through females-<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Males<\/strong> <strong>do not pass mitochondria to offspring<\/strong>, even though mitochondrial function depends on interaction with nuclear genes.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Unexpected evolutionary link:<\/strong> Despite <strong>maternal inheritance<\/strong>, species with <strong>haplo-diploid systems<\/strong> showed <strong>faster mitochondrial evolution<\/strong> than <strong>diplo-diploid species<\/strong> across insect orders.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>The COI Gene: <\/strong><strong>The COI gene shows faster change in haplo-diploid species-<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI)<\/strong> is a key mitochondrial <strong>protein<\/strong>, and its COI gene is in the <strong>mitogenome<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Using <strong>consensus sequences<\/strong> for each insect family, researchers found that <strong>haplo-diploid<\/strong> species showed about <strong>1.7 times more protein changes than diplo-diploid species.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Implications for biodiversity tracking:<\/strong> Faster evolution of the COI gene in haplo-diploid insects means genetic barcodes may change unevenly, affecting accurate identification and monitoring of insect biodiversity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: Researchers from the University of Guelph (in Canada) found an unexpected link between chromosome sets in insects and the speed of mitochondrial genome evolution. About Mitochondria Evolution in Insects Mitochondria evolved from bacteria and retain a small independent genome: Mitochondria originated when an ancient single-celled ancestor engulfed a bacterium, which later evolved into mitochondria.&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/mitochondria-evolution-in-insects\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Mitochondria Evolution in Insects<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10393,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,1738,12039],"tags":[11872],"class_list":["post-353131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-science-and-technology-daily-factly-articles","category-knolls","tag-9pm-daily-factly","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10393"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353131\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}