Electroporation as a methodology to introduce foreign genes into silkworm eggs was systematically analyzed. The foreign gene in both the newly hatched and 3rd instar larva DNA can be detected by PCR. The amount of foreign gene in 3rd instar larva DNA was about 1/1000 of that in newly hatched larva DNA. The ratio of foreign gene entering into silkworm eggs was voltage dependent and showed signif...

BACKGROUND Lepidoptera insects have a novel development process comprising several metamorphic stages during their life cycle compared with vertebrate animals. Unlike most Lepidoptera insects that live on nectar during the adult stage, the Bombyx mori silkworm adults do not eat anything and die after egg-laying. In addition, the midguts of Lepidoptera insects produce antimicrobial proteins duri...

Peptide hydrolysates of silkworm pupae protein with molecular weight of less than 5000 Da were prepared by ultrafiltration. The extracted peptide hydrolysates of silkworm pupae protein had inhibitory action on angiotensin-I-converting enzyme activity in vitro. The hydrolysates were orally administered to spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) in one period and long-term (four weeks). The results...

The hemolymph chymotrypsin inhibitor b1 (CIb1) of silkworm, Bombyx mori, plays an important role in innate immunity. In order to study its encoding gene CIb1, five heterogeneous promoter fragments of 844 bp, 682 bp, 516 bp, 312 bp and 82 bp in length were cloned from genomic DNA of the p50 silkworm strain. Characterization of the CIb1 promoter was performed in vitro using the firefly luciferase...

As an important economic insect, Bombyx mori is also a useful model organism for lepidopteran insect. SET-domain-containing proteins belong to a group of enzymes named after a common domain that utilizes the cofactor S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) to achieve methylation of its substrates. Many SET-domain-containing proteins have been shown to display catalytic activity towards particular lysine ...

The 42-kDa carboxyl-terminal processing fragment of Plasmodium falciparum merozoite surface protein 1 (MSP-1(42)) is an anti-erythrocytic stage malaria vaccine candidate. In this study, MSP-1(42) was expressed by using the Bombyx mori nuclear polyhedrosis virus-silkworm expression system, and the antigenicity and immmunogenicity of the recombinant protein, Bmp42, were evaluated. The average yie...

Protein phosphatases are critical for the regulation of many cellular processes. Null mutants of 21 putative protein phosphatases of Candida albicans were constructed by consecutive allele replacement using the URA3 and ARG4 marker genes. A simple silkworm model of C. albicans infection was used to screen the panel of mutants. Four null mutant (cmp1Delta, yvh1Delta, sit4Delta, and ptc1Delta) st...

The Cry9Ca1 toxin from Bacillus thuringiensis was significantly more toxic to spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana) than the Cry1Ab6, Cry1Ba1, Cry1Ca2, Cry1Da1, Cry1Ea1, and Cry1Fa2 toxins. It displayed high activity against silkworm (Bombyx mori) but was not toxic to black army cutworm (Actebia fennica) or gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar). The Cry9Ca1 is the most effective spruce budworm toxi...

The research work was carried out to evaluate and compare the growth performance and productivity of a strain of silkworm, Bombyx mori (EC1) fed with three different varieties of mulberry plant (K2, S-36 and E-Lobe).The experiment was carried out at ambient conditions 37oC and 55% R.H. The parameters used to evaluate the growth performance were larval length, width and weight while the characte...

Silk from the silkworm, Bombyx mori, has been used as biomedical suture material for centuries. The unique mechanical properties of these fibers provided important clinical repair options for many applications. During the past 20 years, some biocompatibility problems have been reported for silkworm silk; however, contamination from residual sericin (glue-like proteins) was the likely cause. Mor...