CRISPR Disruption of BmOvo Resulted in the Failure of Emergence and Affected the Wing and Gonad Development in the Silkworm Bombyx mori.

ABSTRACT: The domesticated silkworm is an economically important insect that is widely used as a lepidopteran insect model. Although somatic sex determination in the silkworm is well characterized, germline sex determination is not. Here, we used the transgenic-based CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing system to study the function of the Ovo gene in Bombyx mori. BmOvo is the homolog of a factor important in germline sex determination in Drosophila melanogaster. BmOvo mutants had abnormally shaped eggs that were disordered in the ovarioles, and gonad development was abnormal. Interestingly, wing discs and wings did not develop properly, and most of the mutants failed to eclose. Gene expression analyses by qRT-PCR showed that BmOvo gene was highly expressed in the wing disc and epidermis. Genes involved in the

SUBMITTER: Bi H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6723145 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature