Mutation of a cuticular protein, BmorCPR2, alters larval body shape and adaptability in silkworm, Bombyx mori.

ABSTRACT: Cuticular proteins (CPs) are crucial components of the insect cuticle. Although numerous genes encoding cuticular proteins have been identified in known insect genomes to date, their functions in maintaining insect body shape and adaptability remain largely unknown. In the current study, positional cloning led to the identification of a gene encoding an RR1-type cuticular protein, BmorCPR2, highly expressed in larval chitin-rich tissues and at the mulberry leaf-eating stages, which is responsible for the silkworm stony mutant. In the Dazao-stony strain, the BmorCPR2 allele is a deletion mutation with significantly lower expression, compared to the wild-type Dazao strain. Dysfunctional BmorCPR2 in the stony mutant lost chitin binding ability, leading to reduced chitin content in larval cuti

SUBMITTER: Qiao L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3982684 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature