昆虫是种类最多的生物类群，变异丰富、适应环境能力强，为微进化研究提供丰富素材。飞行能力的出现和进化是昆虫物种多样性的重要成因，在种间、种内都呈现丰富的多样性；特别是在鳞翅目昆虫——家蚕的驯化过程中，飞行能力在人工选择下完全退化。本研究围绕集成方向二“人工和极端环境的适应”，以驯化历程相对清晰、具有良好前期基础的家蚕为研究对象，通过构建家蚕和野蚕的杂交作图群体，定位家蚕飞行退化关键调控基因，并通过群体遗传学分析候选基因的变异规律。综合选择信号特征、基因表达与功能证据、调控网络的分析，系统揭示在人工选择条件下，家蚕飞行能力退化的分子机制。活动能力的退化是多种家养动物驯化的普遍特征，本项目将为人工选择下的动物适应性进化研究贡献有代表性的新机制和新模型。

Insects are of rich diversity and variations, and show powerful adaptation to the change of environment. The biodiversity of insects was hypothesized by the evolution of flight ability, which accumulated great phenotypic polymorphisms between and within the insect species. As an extreme instance, the silkworm (Bombyx mori) completely lose the fight ability during the domestication from its ancestry Bombyx mandarina. Our application is strongly related with the second part of the entire project, and will focus on the molecular basis of flight ability degeneration in the silkworm, a lepidopteran model with clear domesticate path and sound research progress. This project consists of positional mapping flight-associated genes, population genetic analysis of candidate genes, function research by invivo genome editing, as well as construction of regulation network. Since locomotion degeneration was also found in many other cases of animal domestication, the result will also benefit the general research of human selection with yielding new mechanisms and new models.