Deficiency of a pyrroline-5-carboxylate reductase produces the yellowish green cocoon 'Ryokuken' of the silkworm, Bombyx mori.

ABSTRACT: The silkworm cocoon colour has attracted researchers involved in genetics, physiology and ecology for a long time. 'Ryokuken' cocoons are yellowish green in colour due to unusual flavonoids, prolinylflavonols, while 'Sasamayu' cocoons are light green and contain only simple flavonol glucosides. We found a novel gene associated with the cocoon colour change resulting from a change in flavonoid composition and named it Lg (light green cocoon). In the middle silk glands of the + ^Lg /+ ^Lg larvae, 1-pyrroline-5-carboxylic acid (P5C) was found to accumulate due to a decrease in the activity of pyrroline-5-carboxylate reductase (P5CR), an enzyme reducing P5C to proline. Sequence analysis of BmP5CR1, the candidate gene for Lg, revealed a 1.9 kb insertion and a 4 bp deletion w

SUBMITTER: Hirayama C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5889389 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature