Toll ligand Spatzle3 controls melanization in the stripe pattern formation in caterpillars.

ABSTRACT: A stripe pattern is an aposematic or camouflage coloration often observed among various caterpillars. However, how this ecologically important pattern is formed is largely unknown. The silkworm dominant mutant Zebra (Ze) has a black stripe in the anterior margin of each dorsal segment. Here, fine linkage mapping of 3,135 larvae revealed a 63-kbp region responsible for the Ze locus, which contained three candidate genes, including the Toll ligand gene spätzle3 (spz-3). Both electroporation-mediated ectopic expression and RNAi analyses showed that, among candidate genes, only processed spz-3 induced melanin pigmentation and that Toll-8 was the candidate receptor gene of spz-3 This Toll ligand/receptor set is also involved in melanizatio

SUBMITTER: KonDo Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5547650 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature