title: Functional conservation and structural diversification of silk sericins in two moth species.
abstract: Sericins are hydrophilic structural proteins produced by caterpillars in the middle section of silk glands and layered over fibroin proteins secreted in the posterior section. In the process of spinning, fibroins form strong solid filaments, while sericins seal the pair of filaments into a single fiber and glue the fiber into a cocoon. Galleria mellonella and the previously examined Bombyx mori harbor three sericin genes that encode proteins containing long repetitive regions. Galleria sericin genes are similar to each other and the protein repeats are built from short and extremely serine-rich motifs, while Bombyx sericin genes are diversified and encode proteins with long and complex repeats. Developmental changes in sericin properties are controlled at the level of gene expression and splicing. In Galleria , MG-1 sericin is produced throughout larval life until the wandering stage, while the production of MG-2 and MG-3 reaches a peak during cocoon spinning.
authors.affiliation: Entomological Institute , Biology Centre ASCR, Branišovská 31, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Michal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zurovec
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kludkiewicz
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fedic
authors.forename: Jitka
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sulitkova
authors.forename: Vaclav
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mach
authors.forename: Lucie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kucerova
authors.forename: Frantisek
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sehnal
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009036:Moths / Q000737:chemistry*; D011487:Protein Conformation; D012326:RNA Splicing; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D047030:Sericins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D047011:Silk / Q000737:chemistry*; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D047030:Sericins; D047011:Silk