Supplemental figure legends
Figure S1. Multiple sequence alignments of Photuris gene products used in this study. All
sequences aligned in MEGA5 [33] using MUSCLE [35]. Figures generated in BioEdit [36].
Identical amino acid positions shaded in black and similar (BLOSUM62) positions shaded in
gray. (A) Photuris Abdominal-B fragment aligned with full-length orthologs from other insects:
T.c., Tribolium castaneum (NP_001034519.1); P.h.c., Pediculus humanus corporis
(XP_002425762.1); B.m., Bombyx mori (BAH30152.1); D.m., Drosophila melanogaster
(AAF55362.1). Homeodomain region spans positions 407-465. GenBank accession number:
KC190488. (B) Photuris abdominal-A fragment aligned with full-length orthologs from other
insects: T.c., Tribolium castaneum (EEZ99248.1); B.m., Bombyx mori (ACD10794.1); A.m., Apis
mellifera (XP_394120.4); A.p., Acyrthosiphon pisum (XP_001944629.2). Homeodomain region
spans positions 303-362. GenBank accession number: KC190489. (C) Photuris Distal-less
fragment aligned with full-length orthologs from other insects: T.c., Tribolium castaneum
(NP_001034528.2); B.a., Bicyclus anynana (AAL69325.1); A.m., Apis mellifera
(NP_001124509.1); D.m., Drosophila melanogaster (NP_523857.1). Homeodomain region
spans positions 164-224. (C’) Photuris Distal-less fragment nucleotide sequence (excluding
variable degenerate primer regions). We include this as the cloned fragment length was less
than that required for database submission. (D) Photuris dachshund fragment aligned with
orthologs from other insects (orthologous sequences trimmed from 5’ and 3’ ends for space):
T.c., Tribolium castaneum (XP_969771.2); P.h.c., Pediculus humanus corporis (EEB15130.1);
O.f., Oncopeltus fasciatus (AAS93632.1); C.q., Culex quinquefasciatus (EDS43047.1).
Truncated Ski domain spans positions 1-50. GenBank accession number: KC190490.
Figure S2. Abd-B RNAi results in disruption of PO formation
A) Sagittal section through adult wildtype Photuris lantern. Note differentiation into dorsal- and
photic layers, abundance of tracheae, columnar organization of the photic layer separated by
tracheal conduits, and translucent cuticle. B) Section of corresponding tissue region obtained
from adult Abd-BRNAi individual. Note absence of tracheae, lack of tissue differentiation into dual
cell-layers, loss of columnar organization, and ectopically pigmented cuticle. Ventral is down
and magnification is 20X in both images.