Melanin and urate act to prevent ultraviolet damage in the integument of the silkworm, Bombyx mori.

The phenomenon that epidermal cells under the white stripes rather than black stripes contain many uric acid granules was found in larvae of several Lepidopteran species. However, the biological mechanism of this phenomenon is still unknown. In the present study, we take advantage of several silkworm (Bombyx mori) body color mutant strains to investigate the deposition patterns and biological mechanism of urate and melanin in the integuments of these mutant larvae. By imaging with transmission electron microscope, we found that there were some melanin granules in the larval cuticle in black body color mutant plain Black (p(B) ), but not in background strain plain (p) with white larval body color. In contrast, the larval epidermal cell of background strain had much more urate granules than that of black one. Furthermore, the uric acid content under the black stripes was significantly lower than that under the white stripes in a single individual of mottled stripe (p(S) ) with black and white stripes in each segment. Ultraviolet A (UVA) exposure experiments showed that the distinct oily (od) mutant individuals with translucent larval integument were more sensitive to the UVA damage than black body color mutant and background strain without any pigmentation in the larval cuticle. This is likely due to the absence of melanin granules and few urate granules in the integument of od mutant. Thus, both the deposited melanin granules in the cuticle and the abundant urate granules in the epidermis cells constitute effective barriers for the silkworm to resist UVA-induced damage.
(© 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)