A comprehensive understanding of gene function and the production of site-specific genetically modified mutants are two major goals of genetic engineering in the post-genomic era. Although site-specific recombination systems have been powerful tools for genome manipulation of many organisms, they have not yet been established for use in the manipulation of the silkworm Bombyx mori genome. In th...

A new baculovirus-silkworm multigene expression system named Bombyx mori MultiBac is developed and described here, by which multiple expression cassettes can be introduced into the Bombyx mori nuclear polyhedrosis virus (BmNPV) genome efficiently. The system consists of three donor vectors (pCTdual, pRADM and pUCDMIG) and an invasive diaminopimelate (DAP) auxotrophic recipient E. coli containin...

The genome of Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) is predicted to contain six RING finger proteins: IAP1, ORF35, IAP2, CG30, IE2, and PE38. Several other members of the RING finger family have recently been shown to have the ubiquitin-ligase (E3) activity. We thus examined whether BmNPV RING finger proteins have the E3 activity. In vitro ubiquitination assay with the rabbit reticulocyte ly...

Virus infections often lead to formation of aggregates and aggresomes in host cells. In this study, production of aggregates and aggresomes by the highly expressed protein polyhedrin of Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) at 24 h postinfection (p.i.) was detected with a fluorescent molecular dye, and verified by colocalization of polyhedrin with aggresomal markers, GFP-250 and γ-tubulin. P...

RNA interference has been described as a powerful genetic tool for gene functional analysis and a promising approach for pest management. However, RNAi efficiency varies significantly among insect species due to distinct RNAi machineries. Lepidopteran insects include a large number of pests as well as model insects, such as the silkworm, Bombyx mori. However, only limited success of in vivo RNA...

The thermoprotective mechanisms of insects remain largely unknown. We reported the Bombyx mori contractile (cot) behavioral mutant with thermo-sensitive seizures phenotype. At elevated temperatures, the cot mutant exhibit seizures associated with strong contractions, rolling, vomiting, and a temporary lack of movement. We narrowed a region containing cot to ~268 kb by positional cloning and ide...

Infection of Neospora caninum causes abortion in cattle, which has a serious worldwide impact on the economic performance of the dairy and beef industries. Now, inexpensive and efficacious vaccines are required to protect cattle from neosporosis in livestock industry. In this study, N. caninum surface antigen 1 (SAG1) and SAG1-related sequence 2 (SRS2) were expressed in hemolymph of silkworm la...

We discovered a novel iflavirus from the transcriptome of the Bombyx mori pupa inoculated with the insect-pathogenic fungus Cordyceps militaris. The assembled iflavirus genome has 10,119 nucleotides, with a 3'-polyadenylated tail, and it encodes a polyprotein composed of 3,004 amino acids.

The draft genome sequence of Sphingomonas paucimobilis host index number (HER) 1398, host of the giant PAU phage isolated from silk moths (Bombyx mori), indicates that this isolate belongs within the genus Sphingobacterium. We suggest that Sphingomonas paucimobilis strain HER1398 be reclassified as Sphingobacterium paucimobilis strain HER1398.

Steroid hormone 20-hydroxyecdysone is known as the systemic regulators of insect cells; however, how to impact the fate and function of mature and stem cells is unclear. For the first time, we report ecdysone regulatory cascades in both mature midgut cell and stem cell fractions related to developmental events by using histological, immunohistochemical, biochemical and gene expression analysis ...