title: Molecular mapping and characterization of the silkworm apodal mutant.
abstract: The morphological diversity of insects is important for their survival; in essence, it results from the differential expression of genes during development of the insect body. The silkworm apodal (ap) mutant has degraded thoracic legs making crawling and eating difficult and the female is sterile, which is an ideal subject for studying the molecular mechanisms of morphogenesis. Here, we confirmed that the infertility of ap female moths is a result of the degradation of the bursa copulatrix. Positional cloning of ap locus and expression analyses reveal that the Bombyx mori sister of odd and bowl (Bmsob) gene is a strong candidate for the ap mutant. The expression of Bmsob is down-regulated, while the corresponding Hox genes are up-regulated in the ap mutant compared to the wild type. Analyses with the dual luciferase assay present a declined activity of the Bmsob promoter in the ap mutant. Furthermore, we demonstrate that Bmsob can inhibit Hox gene expression directly and by suppressing the expression of other genes, including the BmDsp gene. The results of this study are an important contribution to our understanding of the diversification of insect body plan.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Silkworm Genome Biology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, China.|Key Laboratory for Sericulture Functional Genomics and Biotechnology of Agricultural Ministry, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Silkworm Genome Biology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Ling
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Silkworm Genome Biology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, China.
authors.forename: Ming-Yue
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Silkworm Genome Biology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, China.
authors.forename: Hai
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Silkworm Genome Biology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, China.
authors.forename: Jiang-Bo
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Silkworm Genome Biology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, China.
authors.forename: Song-Zhen
authors.initials: SZ
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Silkworm Genome Biology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, China.
authors.forename: Ting-Ting
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Gai
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Silkworm Genome Biology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, China.|Key Laboratory for Sericulture Functional Genomics and Biotechnology of Agricultural Ministry, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, China.
authors.forename: Fang-Yin
authors.initials: FY
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Silkworm Genome Biology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, China.|Key Laboratory for Sericulture Functional Genomics and Biotechnology of Agricultural Ministry, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, China.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D012831:Bombyx / Q000235:genetics*; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D017344:Genes, Insect; D056726:Genetic Association Studies; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D007247:Infertility, Female; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D009154:Mutation; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic
chemical_list: D019476:Insect Proteins