Mutations of an arylalkylamine-N-acetyltransferase, Bm-iAANAT, are responsible for silkworm melanism mutant.

ABSTRACT: Coloration is one of the most variable characters in animals and provides rich material for studying the developmental genetic basis of pigment patterns. In the silkworm, more than 100 gene mutation systems are related to aberrant color patterns. The melanism (mln) is a rare body color mutant that exhibits an easily distinguishable phenotype in both larval and adult silkworms. By positional cloning, we identified the candidate gene of the mln locus, Bm-iAANAT, whose homologous gene (Dat) converts dopamine into N-acetyldopamine, a precursor for N-acetyldopamine sclerotin in Drosophila. In the mln mutant, two types of abnormal Bm-iAANAT transcripts were identified, whose expression levels are markedly lower than the wild type (WT). Moreover, dopamine content was approximately twice as high i

SUBMITTER: Dai FY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2885234 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature