title: Diverse set of Turing nanopatterns coat corneae across insect lineages.
abstract: Nipple-like nanostructures covering the corneal surfaces of moths, butterflies, and Drosophila have been studied by electron and atomic force microscopy, and their antireflective properties have been described. In contrast, corneal nanostructures of the majority of other insect orders have either been unexamined or examined by methods that did not allow precise morphological characterization. Here we provide a comprehensive analysis of corneal surfaces in 23 insect orders, revealing a rich diversity of insect corneal nanocoatings. These nanocoatings are categorized into four major morphological patterns and various transitions between them, many, to our knowledge, never described before. Remarkably, this unexpectedly diverse range of the corneal nanostructures replicates the complete set of Turing patterns, thus likely being a result of processes similar to those modeled by Alan Turing in his famous reaction-diffusion system. These findings reveal a beautiful diversity of insect corneal nanostructures and shed light on their molecular origin and evolutionary diversification. They may also be the first-ever biological example of Turing nanopatterns.
authors: Institute of Protein Research, Russian Academy of Sciences, 142290 Pushchino, Russian Federation; vladimir.katanaev@unil.ch bswin2000@gmail.com.
authors: Artem
authors: A
authors: Blagodatski
authors: Institute of Mathematical Problems of Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 142290 Pushchino, Russian Federation;
authors: Anton
authors: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4359-573X
authors: A
authors: Sergeev
authors: Institute of Protein Research, Russian Academy of Sciences, 142290 Pushchino, Russian Federation; Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, 1005 Lausanne, Switzerland;
authors: Mikhail
authors: M
authors: Kryuchkov
authors: Department of Entomology, Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119234 Moscow, Russian Federation;
authors: Yuliya
authors: Y
authors: Lopatina
authors: Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, 1005 Lausanne, Switzerland; School of Biomedicine, Far Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok, Russian Federation vladimir.katanaev@unil.ch bswin2000@gmail.com.
authors: Vladimir L
authors: VL
authors: Katanaev
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D054910:Compound Eye, Arthropod / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D003315:Cornea / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D004058:Diffusion; D007313:Insecta / Q000145:classification / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D008956:Models, Chemical; D009024:Morphogenesis; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010802:Phylogeny; D013045:Species Specificity
keywords: Turing; cornea; insects; nanocoating; nanostructures