The physical constraints and darwinian forces that shape genomes of species are similar, and indeed the genes themselves are shared through the common ancestor. Based on this, comparative biology in general, and genomics in particular has been very successful in studying and deconstructing the genetic complexity of organisms such as ourselves, by extrapolating from discoveries made in simpler ones. However in some cases, focusing exclusively on highly conserved genes misses what corresponds important species-specific biology. This can be especially relevant when dealing with insects, which have colonized nearly every planetary habitat. Contrary to highly conserved sequences, genes that are evolving rapidly between, and/or within species may do so to respond to species-specific pressures. Unfortunately, genes that are rapidly evolving are challenging to study in non-model organisms, in part because cataloguing genes in a new genome typically embeds scaffolding using orthology, and meaningfully interpreting rates of evolution requires significant genomic data from individuals, or populations, or closely related species.
    We have recently shown in four malaria vectors that investing in the generation of such data can shed new light on our understanding of mosquito evolution: here that positive selection affects disproportionally genes orchestrating aspects of female-specific biology [1]. This finding contrasts data from most similarly examined species, in which rapid evolution is usually a characteristic associated with male reproduction.