Johnston’s organ has been shown to act as an antennal auditory organ across a spectrum of insect species. In the hemimetabolous desert locust Schistocerca gregaria, Johnston’s organ must be functional on hatching and so develops in the pedicellar segment of the antenna during embryogenesis. Here, we employ the epithelial cell marker Lachesin to identify the pedicellar domain of the early embryonic antenna and then triple-label against Lachesin, the mitosis marker phosphohistone-3, and neuron-specific horseradish peroxidase to reveal the sense-organ precursors for Johnston’s organ and their lineages. Beginning with a single progenitor at approximately a third of embryogenesis, additional precursors subsequently appear in both the ventral and dorsal pedicellar domains, each generating a lineage or clone. Lineage locations are remarkably conserved across preparations and ages, consistent with the epithelium possessing an underlying topographic coordinate system that determines the cellular organization of Johnston’s organ. By mid-embryogenesis, twelve lineages are arranged circumferentially in the pedicel as in the adult structure. Each sense-organ precursor is associated with a smaller mitotically active cell from which the neuronal complement of each clone may derive. Neuron numbers within a clone increase in discrete steps with age and are invariant between clones and across preparations of a given age. At mid-embryogenesis, each clone comprises five cells consolidated into a tightly bound cartridge. A long scolopale extends apically from each cartridge to an insertion point in the epithelium, and bundled axons project basally toward the brain. Comparative data suggest mechanisms that might also regulate the developmental program of Johnston’s organ in the locust.

约翰斯顿的器官已被证明可以作为一系列昆虫物种的触角听觉器官。在半变态沙漠蝗虫Schistocerca gregaria中，约翰斯顿器官必须在孵化时具有功能，因此在胚胎发生过程中在触角的花梗部分发育。在这里，我们使用上皮细胞标记物 Lachesin 来识别早期胚胎触角的蒂结构域，然后针对 Lachesin、有丝分裂标记物磷酸组蛋白 3 和神经元特异性辣根过氧化物酶进行三重标记，以揭示约翰斯顿器官的感觉器官前体。以及他们的血统。从胚胎发生的大约三分之一处的单个祖细胞开始，随后在腹侧和背侧蒂区域中出现额外的前体，每个祖细胞产生一个谱系或克隆。谱系位置在不同的准备和年龄中都显着保守，与具有决定约翰斯顿器官的细胞组织的基础地形坐标系的上皮一致。在胚胎发生中期，与成体结构一样，十二个谱系在花梗中沿圆周排列。每个感觉器官前体都与一个较小的有丝分裂活性细胞相关联，每个克隆的神经元补体可以源自该细胞。克隆内的神经元数量随着年龄的增长而以离散的步骤增加，并且在克隆之间和给定年龄的制剂之间保持不变。在胚胎发生中期，每个克隆包含五个细胞，这些细胞合并成紧密结合的盒。一个长的蜈蚣从每个盒的顶部延伸到上皮的插入点，并且成束的轴突从基底向大脑伸出。比较数据表明，某些机制也可能调节蝗虫约翰斯顿器官的发育程序。