Abstract
Silk is an important natural fiber of high economic value, and thus genetic study of the silkworm is a major area of research. Transcriptome analysis can provide guidance for genetic studies of silk yield traits. In this study, we performed a transcriptome comparison using multiple silkworms with different silk yields. A total of 22 common differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in multiple strains and were mainly involved in metabolic pathways. Among these, seven significant common DEGs were verified by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, and the results coincided with the findings generated by RNA sequencing. Association analysis showed that BGIBMGA003330 and BGIBMGA005780 are significantly associated with cocoon shell weight and encode uridine nucleosidase and small heat shock protein, respectively. Functional annotation of these genes suggest that these play a role in silkworm silk gland development or silk protein synthesis. In addition, we performed principal component analysis (PCA) in combination with wild silkworm analysis, which indicates that modern breeding has a stronger selection effect on silk yield traits than domestication, and imply that silkworm breeding induces aggregation of genes related to silk yield.
Highlights
Domestic silkworm (Bombyx mori) is an economically important insect that was domesticated more than 5000 years ago
In the process of production and utilization, silk fibroin is separated by sericin melting during the process of filature, which is the main material for silk products
We speculate that BGIBMGA003330 and BGIBMGA005780 may be related to silk fibroin synthesis
Summary
Domestic silkworm (Bombyx mori) is an economically important insect that was domesticated more than 5000 years ago. In China, the total direct income of silkworm farmers was 111.54 billion yuan in the past five years, the output value of enterprises above a designated size was 641.3 billion yuan, and the export value of real silk products was 16.6 billion US dollars [1]. The huge industrial value and broad application prospects of silk has prompted researchers to develop techniques to improve its yield. Traditional breeding methods have been unable to further improve silk quantity. It is imperative to use advanced molecular biology methods to identify genes that control silk yield
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