Genetic technologies based on transposon-mediated transgenesis along with several recently developed genome-editing technologies have become the preferred methods of choice for genetically manipulating many organisms. The silkworm, Bombyx mori, is a Lepidopteran insect of great economic importance because of its use in silk production and because it is a valuable model insect that has greatly e...

Folium mori, the leaves of Morus alba L., has traditionally been used for the treatment of diabetic hyperglycemia. It has been shown to induce enhanced NOS expression in the hypothalamus of rats with streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes. In the present study, the effect of Folium mori on the expression of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) in the hypothalamus of STZ-induced diabetic rats was investig...

Objective: The study was conducted to evaluate cardioprotective effect of silk cocoon (Abresham) Bombyx mori (B. mori) on isoprenaline-induced myocardial infarction. This study deals with the cocoons, which is called Abresham in the Unani system of medicine. It is one of the 64 drugs which Avicenna has mentioned in Avicenna’s tract on cardiac drugs and used in the treatment of cardiovascular di...

oral supplementation with 50, 100 and 150 ?g/ml calcium chloride to the fifth stadium larvae of csr2xcsr4 biovoltine hybrid silkworm, b. mori on fat body glycogen, protein, and total lipids and haemolymph trehalose and protein have been studied. one of the four normal feeds per day was substituted with treated leaves fed to silkworms at fifth instar larvae. the controls were fed with the leaves...

the domesticated silkworm, bombyx mori, is of high commercial importance as a silk producer and is also widely used for implementation of basic and applied research. it is important to understand its genome organization using molecular markers for genetic studies and for breeding purposes. in this study, a genetic linkage map using 204 amplified fragment length polymorphism (aflp) markers was d...

A novel antibacterial peptide that shows antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus was isolated from the hemolymph of the silkworm, Bombyx mori. The novel peptide consisted of 42 amino acids and was highly basic. This peptide indicated no significant similarity with other antibacterial peptides. The peptide showed antibacterial activity against several Gram-negative and -positive bac...

In this study, we report the cloning and characteristics of an adiponectin-like receptor gene from Bombyx mori (BmAdipoR) with highly conserved deduced amino-acid sequences and similar structure to the human adiponectin receptor (AdipoR). Structural analysis of the translated cDNA suggested it encoded a membrane protein with seven transmembrane domains. BmAdipoR was found to be expressed in mul...

Lepidopteran species have a relatively high number of small holocentric chromosomes (Bombyx mori, 2n = 56). Chromosome identification has long been hampered in this group by the high number and by the absence of suitable markers like centromere position and chromosome bands. In this study, we carried out fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) on meiotic chromosome complements using genetical...

Several organophosphorus (OP) insecticides can selectively kill the silkworm maggot, Exorista sorbillans (Es) (Diptera: Tachinidae), while not obviously affecting the host (Bombyx mori) larvae, but the mechanism is not yet clear. In this study, the cDNA encoding an acetylcholinesterase (AChE) from the field Es was isolated. One point mutation (Gly353Ala) was identified. The Es-353G AChE and Es-...

Serpins are a broadly distributed family of protease inhibitors. In this study, the gene encoding Bombyx mori serpin-2 (Bmserpin-2) was cloned and expressed in E. coli. The Bmserpin-2 cDNA contains a 1125 bp open reading frame (ORF). The deduced protein has 374 amino-acid residues, contains a conserved SERPIN domain and shares extensive homology with other invertebrate serpins. RT-PCR analysis ...