Molecular mapping and characterization of the silkworm apodal mutant

The morphological diversity of insects is important for their survival; in essence, it results from the differential expression of genes during development of the insect body. The silkworm apodal ( ap ) mutant has degraded thoracic legs making crawling and eating difficult and the female is sterile,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2016-01, Vol.6 (1), p.18956-18956, Article 18956
Main Authors: Chen, Peng, Tong, Xiao-Ling, Fu, Ming-Yue, Hu, Hai, Song, Jiang-Bo, He, Song-Zhen, Gai, Ting-Ting, Dai, Fang-Yin, Lu, Cheng
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/208/199
631/208/207
631/208/726/649
631/208/737
Animals
Bombyx - genetics
Bombyx mori
Chromosome Mapping
Cloning
Female
Gene Expression
Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
Genes, Insect
Genetic Association Studies
Genetic Linkage
HOX gene
Humanities and Social Sciences
Infertility
Infertility, Female
Insect Proteins - genetics
Insect Proteins - metabolism
Insects
Male
Molecular modelling
Morphogenesis
multidisciplinary
Mutants
Mutation
Promoter Regions, Genetic
Science
Thorax
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Summary:The morphological diversity of insects is important for their survival; in essence, it results from the differential expression of genes during development of the insect body. The silkworm apodal ( ap ) mutant has degraded thoracic legs making crawling and eating difficult and the female is sterile, which is an ideal subject for studying the molecular mechanisms of morphogenesis. Here, we confirmed that the infertility of ap female moths is a result of the degradation of the bursa copulatrix. Positional cloning of ap locus and expression analyses reveal that the Bombyx mori sister of odd and bowl ( Bmsob ) gene is a strong candidate for the ap mutant. The expression of Bmsob is down-regulated, while the corresponding Hox genes are up-regulated in the ap mutant compared to the wild type. Analyses with the dual luciferase assay present a declined activity of the Bmsob promoter in the ap mutant. Furthermore, we demonstrate that Bmsob can inhibit Hox gene expression directly and by suppressing the expression of other genes, including the BmDsp gene. The results of this study are an important contribution to our understanding of the diversification of insect body plan.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/srep18956