An imaginal disc is one of the parts of a holometabolous insect larva that will become a portion of the outside of the adult insect during the pupal transformation to the imago.[1] Contained within the body of the larva, there are pairs of discs that will form, for instance, the wings or legs or antennae or other structures in the adult. The role of the imaginal disc in insect development was first elucidated by Jan Swammerdam.[2]
During the pupal stage, many larval structures are broken down, and adult structures, including the discs, undergo rapid development. Each disc everts and elongates, with the central portion of the disc becoming the distal part of whichever appendage it is forming: the wing, leg, antenna, etc. During the larval stage, the cells in the growing disc appear undifferentiated, but their developmental fate in the adult is already determined.[3]
The experiment that demonstrates this developmental commitment is to take an imaginal disc from a third instar larva, about to undergo pupation, and subdivide it and culture it in the body of a younger larva. Discs can be continuously cultured this way for many larval generations. When such a cultured disc is eventually implanted in the body of a larva that is allowed to pupate, the disc will develop into the structure it was originally determined to become. That is, an antenna disc can be cultured this way and will, almost always, become an antenna (out of place, of course) when final development is triggered by pupation.[4]
 Destination of the imaginal disc in the leg of an insect. |
The study of imaginal discs in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster led to the discovery of homeotic mutations such as antennapedia, where the developmental fate of a disc could sometimes change. It is of interest to entomologists that the kinds of developmental switches that occur are very specific (leg to antenna, for instance). Study of this phenomenon led to the discovery of the homeobox genes, and started a revolution in the understanding of development in multi-celled animals.[5]
- ^ Beira, Jorge V.; Paro, Renato (7 May 2016). "The legacy of Drosophila imaginal discs, introduction". Chromosoma. 125 (4): 573–92. doi:10.1007/s00412-016-0595-4. PMC 5023726. PMID 27153833.
- ^ "Forty-Eighth Annual Report of the entomological society of Ontario". archive.org. Ontario Department of Agriculture. 1917. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
- ^ Beira, Jorge V.; Paro, Renato (7 May 2016). "The legacy of Drosophila imaginal discs, The development of imaginal discs and their embryonic origin". Chromosoma. 125 (4): 573–92. doi:10.1007/s00412-016-0595-4. PMC 5023726. PMID 27153833.
- ^ Sivasubramanian, P. (14 July 1977). "Evagination of imaginal discs in the fleshfly Sarcophaga crassipalpis: Hormonal control in vivo". Wilhelm Roux's Archives of Developmental Biology. 183 (2): 101–106. doi:10.1007/BF00848780. PMID 28304898. S2CID 6025560.
- ^ Lappence, Terry RJ; Grier, David G.; Thompson, Alexander; Halliday, Henry L. (2006). "HOX GENES: Seductive Science, Mysterious Mechanisms, Introduction". Ulster Med J. 75 (1): 23–31. PMC 1891803. PMID 16457401.