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Takenaka Lab (Animal Phylogenetics and Evolution, Developmental Genetics)
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The lab explores the origin of insect wings and the adaptive evolution of insects in rivers.
AboutAbout the lab
Unraveling macroevolution from a micro perspective
The Takenaka Lab studies the origin of insect wings and the evolution of river-dwelling insects using the methods of developmental genetics and phylogenetics and evolutionary biology.
Its main research subjects are river-dwelling insects.
The lab investigates the acquisition of evolutionary novelties such as insect wings, adaptation to river environments, and the formation of the ecosystems of the Japanese archipelago, and it also conducts research using environmental DNA.
The lab was launched in April 2025 as an independent lab in the Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Tsukuba.
Key terms
- Evolutionary novelty
- Evolutionary novelty: a newly evolved trait that the ancestral species did not have. Insect wings are given as an example.
- Phylogeography
- Phylogeography: a field of research that traces how genetic differences among organisms arose and investigates the history behind their distributions.
- Environmental DNA
- Environmental DNA (eDNA): DNA of biological origin that remains in the environment, such as in water. It is a method of analyzing this DNA to find out which organisms are present.
NewsLab news
The lab welcomed new members and started under a new structure
Assistant Professor Masaki Takenaka set up an independent lab at the University of Tsukuba
ResearchResearch themes
How have the diverse forms of living things evolved? Focusing mainly on insects that live in rivers, this lab approaches the question from four perspectives: the origin of insect wings, adaptation to the environment, the history of how the ecosystems of the Japanese archipelago formed, and the use of environmental DNA.
*Illustrative imageExploring the origin of insect wings
Using silverfish, a lineage that branched off before wings evolved, and mayflies, among the earliest-diverging winged insects, the lab aims to clarify the molecular basis of wing evolution. Focusing on the hypothesis that wings evolved from the gills of mayflies, it studies how gills and wings develop.
*Illustrative imageAdaptation to river environments and coexistence
River environments change greatly from upstream to downstream. The lab studies the mechanisms by which insects adapt to each environment, and the mechanisms by which closely related species in the same river are distributed separately along the river course and coexist.
*Illustrative imageHow the ecosystems of the Japanese archipelago formed
The lab works on phylogeography, which comprehensively analyzes the species that make up an ecosystem to trace the history of how the ecosystems of the Japanese archipelago came to be. As its part of a larger project, it comprehensively analyzes insects of the Japanese archipelago using Mig-seq to study how forest ecosystems were established.
*Illustrative imageStudying river insects with environmental DNA
Using environmental DNA, the lab studies the distribution of aquatic insects along river courses and the mechanisms by which river ecosystems in the Japanese archipelago were established. It is also involved in estimating population sizes and establishing simple monitoring methods for the conservation of Specified Class II still-water aquatic insects.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Takenaka Lab are faculty and researchers.As of 2026
- Assistant ProfessorMasaki Takenaka
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Aquatic insect indentification ( )” USFWSAlaska / Public domain (cropped)
- Exploring the origin of insect wings: “Green Mayfly Sitting on The Edge of Leaf” Shyamli kashyap / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Adaptation to river environments and coexistence: “Aquatic insect larva ( )” Dave Huth from Allegany County, NY, USA / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- How the ecosystems of the Japanese archipelago formed: “Insect collection ( )” Emmett Tullos from Jackson AL, United States / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Studying river insects with environmental DNA: “Water Sampling of the Nisqually River ( )” Mount Rainier National Park from Ashford, WA, United States / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
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（藤田 麻里） ): “Embryonic musculature in an insect embryo ( )” Gerit Linneweber / CC BY 2.0 (cropped) - Related lab (和田研究室
（動物系統進化・ 進化発生学） ): “Invertebrate montage (2022)” File:Jelly cc11.jpg: Paroxysm~commonswiki (uploader), Original by Dan Parsons [1] File:Fromia indica HI09-0187.JPG: FredD, Original by François Michonneau File:Sepioteuthis sepioidea (Caribbean Reef Squid).jpg: Nhobgood File:Drosophila melanogaster Proboscis.jpg: Sanjay Acharya File:Aplysina lacunosa.jpg: Loopy30 (uploader), Original by jbrasher [2] File:Pseudobiceros_hancockanus.jpg: Jnpet File:Sucking leech.jpg: GlebK File:Sea Squirts (Polycarpa aurata) ( ).jpg: Josve05a (uploader), Original by Bernard DUPONT [3] File:SEM image of Milnesium tardigradum in active state - journal.pone.0045682.g001-2.png: Daniel Mietchen (uploader), Original by Schokraie E, Warnken U, Hotz-Wagenblatt A, Grohme MA, Hengherr S, et al. (2012) / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped) - Related lab
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（生理遺伝学） ): “Fruit fly (Diptera, Tephritidae) ( )” Insects Unlocked / CC0 (cropped)
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