title: Yorkie Facilitates Organ Growth and Metamorphosis in Bombyx.
abstract: The Hippo pathway, which was identified from genetic screens in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, has a major size-control function in animals. All key components of the Hippo pathway, including the transcriptional coactivator Yorkie that is the most critical substrate and downstream effector of the Hippo kinase cassette, are found in the silkworm, Bombyx mori. As revealed by microarray and quantitative real-time PCR, expression of Hippo pathway genes is particularly enriched in several mitotic tissues, including the ovary, testis, and wing disc. Developmental profiles of Hippo pathway genes are generally similar (with the exception of Yorkie) within each organ, but vary greatly in different tissues showing nearly opposing expression patterns in the wing disc and the posterior silk gland (PSG) on day 2 of the prepupal stage. Importantly, the reduction of Yorkie expression by RNAi downregulated Yorkie target genes in the ovary, decreased egg number, and delayed larval-pupal-adult metamorphosis. In contrast, baculovirus-mediated Yorkie(CA) overexpression upregulated Yorkie target genes in the PSG, increased PSG size, and accelerated larval-pupal metamorphosis. Together the results show that Yorkie potentially facilitates organ growth and metamorphosis, and suggest that the evolutionarily conserved Hippo pathway is critical for size control, particularly for PSG growth, in the silkworm.
authors.affiliation: 1. Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Shumin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: 1. Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200032, China; 2. College of Life Sciences, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China.
authors.forename: Panli
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: 2. College of Life Sciences, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China.
authors.forename: Hong-Sheng
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: 3. School of Biotechnology and Food Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China.
authors.forename: Hai-Sheng
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.affiliation: 3. School of Biotechnology and Food Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China.
authors.forename: Zhao-Jun
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: 4. College of Biotechnology, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang Jiangsu 212018, China.
authors.forename: Guozheng
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: 1. Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Shuai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhan
authors.affiliation: 5. Epartment of Urology, Shanghai General Hospital, Medical School of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200080, China.
authors.forename: Zhihong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: 1. Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Sheng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D012831:Bombyx / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008675:Metamorphosis, Biological / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D010053:Ovary / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology; D047011:Silk / Q000378:metabolism; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014921:Wings, Animal / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism; D000091102:YAP-Signaling Proteins; D000099317:Hippo Kinases
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D019476:Insect Proteins; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D047011:Silk; D015534:Trans-Activators; D000091102:YAP-Signaling Proteins; C503814:Yki protein, Drosophila; C499474:hpo protein, Drosophila; D000099317:Hippo Kinases
keywords: Bombyx mori; Hippo pathway; Yorkie function; domestication; ovary; silk gland; size-control; wing disc