BmC/EBPZ gene is essential for the larval growth and development of silkworm, Bombyx mori

作者：Xinglin Mei, Tianchen Huang, Anli Chen, Weibin Liu, Jiang Li, Shanshan Zhong, Dongxu Shen, Peitong Qiao, Qiaoling Zhao · 发表于：Frontiers in Physiology · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.3389/fphys.2024.1298869 · 被引用次数：6 · 研究领域：Silk-based biomaterials and applications、Silkworms and Sericulture Research、Insect Resistance and Genetics

The genetic male sterile line ( GMS ) of the silkworm Bombyx mori is a recessive mutant that is naturally mutated from the wild-type 898WB strain. One of the major characteristics of the GMS mutant is its small larvae. Through positional cloning, candidate genes for the GMS mutant were located in a region approximately 800.5 kb long on the 24th linkage group of the silkworm. One of the genes was Bombyx mori CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein zeta ( BmC/EBPZ ), which is a member of the basic region-leucine zipper transcription factor family. Compared with the wild-type 898WB strain, the GMS mutant features a 9 bp insertion in the 3′end of open reading frame sequence of BmC/EBPZ gene. Moreover, the high expression level of the BmC/EBPZ gene in the testis suggests that the gene is involved in the regulation of reproduction-related genes. Using the CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knockout system, we found that the BmC/EBPZ knockout strains had the same phenotypes as the GMS mutant, that is, the larvae were small. However, the larvae of BmC/EBPZ knockout strains died during the development of the third instar. Therefore, the BmC/EBPZ gene was identified as the major gene responsible for GMS mutation.