The Expression of UGT46A1 Gene and Its Effect on Silkworm Feeding

Feifei Zhu,Keping Chen,Rehab Hosny Taha,Wenting Song,Yixuan Fan

doi:10.3390/pr9081473

Abstract

The silkworm, Bombyx mori, uses a complex olfactory system to determine whether the food is edible. As an odor degrading enzyme, UDP-glycosyltransferase (UGT) participates in the degradation of odor molecules in the olfactory system of the silkworm. By sequencing the whole genome of the silkworm NB and using comparative genomics methods, we found that UGT46A1 is unique in species that eat mulberry leaves. Bioinformatics shows that its function may be related to the feeding habits of the silkworm. In this study, it was found through quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) that UGT46A1 was highly expressed in the heads of silkworms, which was consistent with the conjecture that UGT46A1 was involved in silkworm olfactory recognition. RNA interference (RNAi) was used to knock down the expression of UGT46A1. By observing the silkworm’s tendency toward mulberry leaves and food selectivity, it was found that the silkworms that successfully knocked down the UGT46A1 gene altered their feeding habits and that their ability to find food was weakened, but they could eat more leaves of plants other than mulberry leaves. This evidence indicates that UGT46A1 may affect the silkworm’s feeding by influencing the olfactory system of the silkworm.

Highlights

Bombyx mori is a herbivorous insect and generally only eats mulberry leaves, but when they are in an extremely hungry condition, they can feed on some plant leaves such as those from Ulmaceae, Compositae, and Urticaceae [1,2]
This process requires the participation of odorant-binding proteins (OBPs) [7,8], chemosensory proteins (CSPs) [9,10], sensory neuron membrane proteins (SNMPs) [11,12], olfactory receptors (ORs) [13,14] and odorant degrading esterases (ODEs) [15,16], and other proteins
The results of the SDS-PAGE electrophoresis and Western blot showed that the UGT46A1 protein was successfully expressed and the protein size was Processes 2021, 9, x FOR PEER REVIEW

Summary

Introduction

Bombyx mori is a herbivorous insect and generally only eats mulberry leaves, but when they are in an extremely hungry condition, they can feed on some plant leaves such as those from Ulmaceae, Compositae, and Urticaceae [1,2]. It is difficult for the leaves of other plants to provide all the nutrients required by the silkworm, and these leaves generally cannot guarantee the healthy growth and reproduction of the silkworm and may even poison the silkworm and cause it to die [1]. This process requires the participation of odorant-binding proteins (OBPs) [7,8], chemosensory proteins (CSPs) [9,10], sensory neuron membrane proteins (SNMPs) [11,12], olfactory receptors (ORs) [13,14] and odorant degrading esterases (ODEs) [15,16], and other proteins

Methods

Results

Conclusion