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Background: Research has shown that epigenetic modification are involved the regulation of diapause in bivoltine silkworms (Bombyx mori), but it remains unclear how epigenetic modification in response to environmental signals precisely to regulate the diapause processing of bivoltine B. mori., Methods and Results: In this study, the diapause terminated eggs of bivoltine B. mori, Qiufeng (QF) were divided into two groups: a QFHT group incubated at 25 °C with a natural day/night cycle to produce diapause eggs, and a QFLT group incubated at 16.5 °C in darkness to produce non-diapause eggs. On the 3rd day of the pupal stage, the total RNAs of the eggs were extracted and their N6-adenosine methylation (m 6 A) abundances were analyzed to explore the effects of m 6 A methylation on diapause in the silkworm. The results showed that 1984 m 6 A peaks are shared, 1563 in QFLT and 659 in QFHT. The m 6 A methylation level of the QFLT group was higher than that of the QFHT one in various signaling pathways. The m 6 A methylation rate of mevalonate kinase (MK) in the insect hormone synthesis pathway was significantly different between the two groups. The knockdown of MK by RNA interference in the pupae of QFLT resulted in females laying diapause eggs rather than non-diapause eggs after mating., Conclusions: m 6 A methylation involves in the diapause regulation of bivoltine B. mori by changing the expression levels of MK. This result provides a clearer image of the environmental signals on the regulation of diapause in bivoltine silkworms., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

The Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) is one of the most destructive diseases in silkworm, which has caused the main damage to sericulture industry. In this study, we developed a system of RNAi to prevent the BmNPV infection using the piggyBac transposon-derived targeting short hairpin RNA (shRNA) interference. The shRNAs targeting the genes of i.e.-1, lef-1, lef-2 and lef-3 of BmNPV were designed and used to inhibit the intracellular replication or multiplication of BmNPV in Bm cells. The highest activity was presented in the shRNA targeting the i.e.-1c of BmNPV, of which the inhibition rate reached 94.5 % in vitro. Further a stable Bm cell line of piggyBac transposon-derived targeting shRNA interference against BmNPV was established, which has a highly efficacious suppression on virus proliferation. These results indicated that the recombinant shRNA expression system was a useful tool for resistance to BmNPV in vitro. The approach by recombinant shRNAs opens a door of RNAi technology as a strategy that offering technically simpler, cheaper, and quicker gene knockdown for promising research and biotechnology application on silkworm lethal diseases.

Insect molting is an important developmental process of metamorphosis, which is initiated by molting hormone. Molting includes the activation of dermal cells, epidermal cells separation, molting fluid secretion, the formation of new epidermis and old epidermis shed and other series of continuous processes. Polyphenol oxidases, dopa decarboxylase and acetyltransferase are necessary enzymes for this process. Traditionally, the dopa decarboxylase (BmDdc) was considered as an enzyme for epidermal layer's tanning and melanization. This work suggested that dopa decarboxylase is one set of the key enzymes in molting, which closely related with the regulation of ecdysone at the time of biological molting processes. The data showed that the expression peak of dopa decarboxylase in silkworm is higher during molting stage, and decreases after molting. The significant increase in the ecdysone levels of haemolymph was also observed in the artificially fed silkworm larvae with ecdysone hormone. Consistently, the dopa decarboxylase expression was significantly elevated compared to the control. BmDdc RNAi induced dopa decarboxylase expression obviously declined in the silkworm larvae, and caused the pupae appeared no pupation or incomplete pupation. BmDdc was mainly expressed and stored in the peripheral plasma area near the nucleus in BmN cells. In larval, BmDdc was mainly located in the brain and epidermis, which is consisted with its function in sclerotization and melanization. Overall, the results described that the dopa decarboxylase expression is regulated by the molting hormone, and is a necessary enzyme for the silkworm molting.

Insect molting is an important developmental process of metamorphosis, which is initiated by molting hormone. The molting process includes the activation of dermal cells, epidermal cells separation, molting fluid secretion, the formation of new epidermis and old epidermis excoriation etc. Polyphenol oxidases (PPOs), dopa decarboxylase and acetyltransferase are necessary enzymes for this process. Traditionally, the phenol oxidase was considered as an enzyme for epidermal layer's tanning and melanization. This work suggested that polyphenol oxidases are one set of the key enzymes in molting, which closely related with the role of ecdysone in regulation of molting processes. The data showed that the expression peak of phenol oxidase in silkworm is higher during molting stage, and decreases after molting. The significant increase in the ecdysone levels of haemolymph was observed in the artificially fed silkworm larvae with ecdysone hormone. Consistently, the phenol oxidase expression was significantly elevated compared to the control. PPO1 RNAi induced phenol oxidase expression obviously declined in the silkworm larvae, and caused the pupae incomplete pupation. Overall, the results described that the phenol oxidase expression is regulated by the molting hormone, and is a necessary enzyme for the silkworm molting.

Adaptor protein complexes (APs) function as vesicle coat components in different membrane traffic pathways. In this study the subunits of adaptor protein complex-1 (AP-1) of silkworm Bombyx mori were molecularly characterized. All coding genes for the four subunits were cloned and sequenced. Phylogenic tree for each adaptin was constructed and all subunits were found to be conserved in respective group among organisms. The mRNA expression pattern for each adaptin was similar among tissues. Alternative splicing event was observed in genes encoding both the heavy chain gamma and beta adaptin and the light chain subunit, which could generate other possible adaptin forms. GFP-tagged fusion proteins indicated that AP-1 located in the peripheral plasma area. Furthermore, the BmNPV infection in B. mori cells had differentiated effect on the expression level of AP-1 subunits.

Glycoproteins have been implicated in a wide variety of important biochemical and biological functions, including protein stability, immune function, enzymatic function, cellular adhesion and others. Unfortunately, there is no therapeutic protein produced in insect system to date, due to the expressed glycoproteins are paucimannosidic N-glycans, rather than the complex, terminally sialylated N-glycans in mammalian cells. In this paper, we cloned the necessary genes in glycosylation of mammalian cells, such as N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase II (Gn-TII), galactosyltransferases (Gal-Ts), 2,6-Sial-T (ST6 GalII)and 2,3-Sial-T (ST3GalIII), and transformed them to silkworm genome of BmN cell line through transgenesis to establish a transgenic Bm cell line of piggyBac transposon-derived targeting expression of humanized glycoproteins. The study supplied a new insect cell line which is practically to produce "bisected" complex N-glycans like in mammalian cells.

Endoglucanase is a part of cellulase which hydrolyzes cellulose into glucose. In this study, we cloned endoglucanase III (EG III) gene from Trichoderma viride strain AS 3.3711 using a PCR-based exon splicing method, and expressed EG III recombinant protein in both silkworm BmN cell line and silkworm larvae with an improved Bac-to-Bac/BmNPV mutant baculovirus expression system, which lacks the chiA and v-cath genes of Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV). The result showed that around 45 kDa protein was visualized in BmN cells at 48 h after the second generation recombinant mBacmid/BmNPV/EG III baculovirus infection. The enzymes from recombinant baculoviruses infected silkworms exhibited significant maximum enzyme activity at the environmental condition of pH 8.0 and temperature 50°C, and increased 20.94 and 19.13% compared with that from blank mBacmid/BmNPV baculoviruses infected silkworms and normal silkworms, respectively. It was stable at pH range from 5.0 to 9.0 and at temperature range from 40 to 60°C. It provided a possibility to generate transgenic silkworms expressing bio-active cellulase, which can catabolize dietary fibers more efficiently, and it might be of great significance for sericulture industry.