Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) that infects the silkworm, B. mori, accounts for >50% of silk cocoon crop losses globally. We speculated that simultaneous targeting of several BmNPV essential genes in transgenic silkworm would elicit a stable defense against the virus. We introduced into the silkworm germline the vectors carrying short sequences of four essential BmNPV genes in tandem,...

A rare phenomenon of SDS-induced activation of a latent protease activity associated with the purified silkworm excretory red fluorescent protein (SE-RFP) was noticed. SE-RFP aliquots incubated with SDS for different time intervals indicated that the protein undergoes an obligatory breakdown into a number of subunits which exhibit autoproteolytic (acting upon themselves) and/or heteroproteolyti...

the influence of moisture content of mulberry leaf on the growth, development and moisture build up in the body of silkworm was studied by feeding with different maturity leaves to late age of silkworm larvae. significantly higher larval moisture (79.78%), larval weight (65.65 g), pupal moisture (73.81%) was recorded in top tender leaf (high moisture) fed batches and least was recorded in the c...

Serpins generally serve as inhibitors that utilize a mobile reactive center loop (RCL) as bait to trap protease targets. Here, we present the crystal structure of serpin18 from Bombyx mori at 1.65 Å resolution, which has a very short and stable RCL. Activity analysis showed that the inhibitory target of serpin18 is a cysteine protease rather than a serine protease. Notably, this inhibitiory rea...

the domesticated silkworm, bombyx mori linn., a lepidopteran molecular model and an important economic insect that are emerging as an ideal molecular genetic resource for solving a broad range of biological problems. the silkworm, b. mori produces massive amount of silk proteins during the final stage of larval development. these proteins are stored in the middle silk gland and they are dischar...

A second-generation linkage map was constructed for the silkworm, Bombyx mori, focusing on mapping Bombyx sequences appearing in public nucleotide databases and bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) contigs. A total of 874 BAC contigs containing 5067 clones (22% of the library) were constructed by PCR-based screening with sequence-tagged sites (STSs) derived from whole-genome shotgun (WGS) sequ...

the present study deals with the oral supplementation with (50, 100 and 150 ?g/ml) synergetic effect of potassium and magnesium chloride on the fat body glycogen, protein, total lipids and haemolymph trehalose, protein of fifth instar larvae of bombyx mori l (lepidoptera: bombycidae). the observed parameters significantly increased in all the treated groups when compared with those of the corre...

The present study deals with the oral supplementation with (50, 100 and 150 ?g/ml) synergetic effect of potassium and magnesium chloride on the fat body glycogen, protein, total lipids and haemolymph trehalose, protein of fifth instar larvae of Bombyx mori L (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae). The observed parameters significantly increased in all the treated groups when compared with those of the corre...

Oral supplementation with potassium bromide (10, 20 and 40 ?g/ml) to fifth instar larvae of CSR2, CSR4 and CSR2xCSR4 crossbreed races of the silkworm, Bombyx mori resulted in a significant increase in the fat body glycogen in all the treated groups and in all the three races of the silkworm, B. mori. The fat body protein content was increased with 20 and 40 ?g/ml treated groups in CSR2 and CSR4...