Disease relevance of Bombyx

• We have expressed the open reading frame of the R2 element from Bombyx mori, R2Bm, in E. coli and shown that it encodes both sequence-specific endonuclease and reverse transcriptase activities [1].
• A homology search revealed that the homologs of silkworm PGRP are present in mice, nematodes, and bacteriophages [2].
• Transcription of the Bombyx mori fibroin gene increases and plateaus from templates of increasing superhelicity, and transcription from the adenovirus 2 major late promoter rises and then falls, while transcription of the Drosophila hsp70 gene remains unchanged [3].
• A cysteine protease encoded by the baculovirus Bombyx mori nuclear polyhedrosis virus [4].
• Cry1Aa, an insecticidal protein produced by Bacillus thuringiensis, has been shown to bind to cadherin-like protein, BtR175, in Bombyx mori (silkworm) midgut [5].

High impact information on Bombyx

• This effect is specific for 5S RNA genes, since TFIIIA will not form an active template when incubated with a cloned Bombyx mori alanine tRNA gene [6].
• The messenger RNA for silf fibroin, laveled with 32PO4 and methyl-3H L-methionine, was purified to near homogeneity from the posterior silk gland of the sildworm Bombyx mori, and the sequence of a methylated, RNAase T2-resistant structure was determined [7].
• 2-Deoxy-alpha-ecdysone from ovaries and eggs of the silkworm, Bombyx mori [8].
• Recognition of monomeric and polymeric peptidoglycan required different PGRP-LC splice isoforms, while lipid A recognition required an unidentified soluble factor in the hemolymph of Bombyx morii [9].
• We examined Period (PER) protein regulation in the brain of the silkmoth Antheraea pernyi [10].

Chemical compound and disease context of Bombyx

• We report here the identification of a common immunological determinant in Escherichia coli and Bombyx mori (silkworm) alanine tRNA synthetases [11].
• Antiviral activity of a serine protease from the digestive juice of Bombyx mori larvae against nucleopolyhedrovirus [12].
• In vitro phagocytosis of Escherichia coli and release of lipopolysaccharide by adhering hemocytes of the silkworm, Bombyx mori [13].
• An innovative technique for inoculating recombinant baculovirus into the silkworm Bombyx mori using lipofectin [14].
• A novel method was developed to infect perorally the silkworm Bombyx mori L. with budded particles of nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) using flufenoxuron, an insect growth regulator [15].

Biological context of Bombyx

• Regulation of glycine tRNA gene expression in the posterior silk glands of the silkworm Bombyx mori [16].
• The cDNA encoding this Gram(-) bacteria-binding protein (GNBP) was isolated from an immunized silkworm fat body cDNA library and sequenced [17].
• High level transactivation by a modified Bombyx ecdysone receptor in mammalian cells without exogenous retinoid X receptor [18].
• We found that the Bombyx Ubx and abd-A genes are deleted in the EN chromosome, and the Bombyx abd-A gene is deleted in the ECa chromosome [19].
• A maternal homeobox gene, Bombyx caudal, forms both mRNA and protein concentration gradients spanning anteroposterior axis during gastrulation [20].

Anatomical context of Bombyx

• The ATCAT cap site sequence was homologous to a silkmoth chorion PuTCATT cap site sequence, where Pu indicates any purine [21].
• The Bombyx cad protein was not detected in the ovary and the first 9 hours of eggs, but was first detected evenly during cellular blastoderm stage [20].
• Differences in PPBP characteristics between nuclear extracts from Sf21 and from Bm5 (Bombyx mori) cell line suggested that additional factors may be involved in the interaction of PPBP with the polyhedrin promoter [22].
• GTP induces knotting, catenation, and relaxation of DNA by stoichiometric amounts of DNA topoisomerase II from Bombyx mori and HeLa cells [23].
• The orphan nuclear receptors BmE75 and BmHR3 are induced by 20-hydroxyecdysone in the ovary of the silk moth Bombyx mori at the beginning of pupation and show stage-specific expression in ovarian follicles during pharate adult development [24].

Associations of Bombyx with chemical compounds

• Structure and in vitro transcription of a glycine tRNA gene from Bombyx mori [25].
• Biosynthesis of the silkmoth sex pheromone bombykol, (E,Z)-10,12-hexadecadien-1-ol, involves two consecutive desaturation steps, the second of which is unique in that it generates a conjugated diene system from the Delta11-monoene C(16) intermediate [26].
• Short-labeled 4.5S RNA molecules isolated from the posterior silk gland of Bombyx mori can be separated by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis into many discrete species, some of which are radiochemically pure by the criteria of RNA fingerprinting [27].
• In the silkworm Bombyx mori, SG is known to secrete two neuropeptides, diapause hormone (DH) responsible for induction of embryonic diapause and pheromone biosynthesis-activating neuropeptide, which share a pentapeptide amide, Phe-Xaa-Pro-Arg-Leu-NH2 (Xaa = Gly or Ser), at the C terminus [28].
• Here we show that mulberry leaves are highly toxic to caterpillars other than the silkworm B. mori, because of the ingredients of the latex, a milky sap exuded from mulberry leaf veins [29].

Gene context of Bombyx

• A cDNA clone encoding MBF1 was isolated from the silkworm Bombyx mori whose sequence predicts a basic protein consisting of 146 amino acids [30].
• Thus, a complete feedback loop, resembling that found in Drosophila, can be constructed from silkmoth CLOCK, BMAL, PERIOD, and TIMELESS [31].
• We report here large-scale expression and purification of extracellular domain of the type I receptor for BMP-2/4, using a silkworm expression system [32].
• To analyze how the silk glands of the lepidopteran, Bombyx mori, develop, we cloned and identified two genes that encode the homeodomain and its flanking regions identical to the corresponding regions of Deformed and Sex combs reduced [33].
• Evolutionary conservation of the leucine-rich repeat transmembrane protein Gp150 in Drosophila and Bombyx [34].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Bombyx

• Northern blot hybridization with a Bombyx cad probe revealed the presence of single maternal transcript of 2.3 kb [20].
• Molecular cloning of a POU domain-containing factor involved in the regulation of the Bombyx sericin-1 gene [35].
• A lutein-binding protein was purified from fifth instar larval midgut of Bombyx mori by a combination of ammonium sulfate fractionation and three chromatographic procedures, gel filtration, chromatofocusing, and anion exchange chromatography [36].
• Our results in the present work show that the fractional changes of the conformational components in regenerated silk fibroin (SF) extracted from Bombyx mori fibers is remarkably pH- and Cu(II)-dependent as demonstrated by Cu(II) EPR, (13)C NMR, and Raman spectroscopy [37].
• Injection of vancomycin and kanamycin into the silkworm hemolymph was effective, but oral administration was not [38].

References