Animal development proceeds through the activity of genes and their cis-regulatory modules (CRMs) working together in sets of gene regulatory networks (GRNs). The emergence of species-specific traits and novel structures results from evolutionary changes in GRNs. Recent work in a wide variety of animal models, and particularly in insects, has started to reveal the modes and mechanisms of GRN evolution. I discuss here various aspects of GRN evolution and argue that developmental system drift (DSD), in which conserved phenotype is nevertheless a result of changed genetic interactions, should regularly be viewed from the perspective of GRN evolution. Advances in methods to discover related CRMs in diverse insect species, a critical requirement for detailed GRN characterization, are also described.

动物的发育通过基因及其顺式调控模块（CRM）的活动进行，这些基因在一组基因调控网络（GRN）中协同工作。物种特定性状和新颖结构的出现是由于GRNs的进化变化所致。最近在各种各样的动物模型中，特别是在昆虫中的工作，已经开始揭示GRN进化的模式和机制。我在这里讨论GRN进化的各个方面，并认为应该定期从GRN进化的角度观察发育系统漂移（DSD），其中保守表型是遗传相互作用改变的结果。还介绍了在各种昆虫物种中发现相关CRM的方法的进展，这是详细GRN表征的关键要求。