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Effect of TiO2 Nanoparticles on the Reproduction of Silkworm

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Abstract

Silkworm (Bombyx mori) is an important economic insect and the model insect of Lepidoptera. Because of its high fecundity and short reproduction cycle, it has been widely used in reproduction and development research. The high concentrations of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs) show reproductive toxicity, while low concentrations of TiO2 NPs have been used as feed additive and demonstrated significant biological activities. However, whether the low concentrations of TiO2 NPs affect the reproduction of B. mori has not been reported. In this study, the growth and development of gonad of B. mori fed with a low concentration of TiO2 NPs (5 mg/L) were investigated by assessing egg production and expression of reproduction-related genes. The results showed that the low concentration of TiO2 NPs resulted in faster development of the ovaries and testes and more gamete differentiation and formation, with an average increase of 51 eggs per insect and 0.34 × 10−4 g per egg after the feeding. The expressions of several reproduction-related genes were upregulated, such as the yolk-development-related genes Ovo-781 and vitellogenin (Vg) were increased by 5.33- and 6.77-folds, respectively. This study shows that TiO2 NPs feeding at low concentration can enhance the reproduction of B. mori, and these results are useful in developing new methods to improve fecundity in B. mori and providing new clues for its broad biological applications.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program) (Grant No. 2013AA102507), the State Key Laboratory of Silkworm Genome Biology, the Transformation Project of Agriculture Scientific and Technological Achievements (2013GB2C100180), the projects sponsored by the National Cocoons Silk Development Funds in 2014, the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, the Doctoral Fund of Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China (20113201110008), the China Agriculture Research System (CARS-22-ZJ0305), and the Science & Technology support Program of Suzhou (ZXS2012005, SYN201406).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Basic Medicine and Biological Sciences, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215123, People’s Republic of China

    Min Ni, Fanchi Li, Binbin Wang, Kaizun Xu, Hua Zhang, Jingsheng Hu, Jianghai Tian, Weide Shen & Bing Li

  2. National Engineering Laboratory for Modern Silk, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215123, People’s Republic of China

    Weide Shen

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  1. Min Ni
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  2. Fanchi Li
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  3. Binbin Wang
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  4. Kaizun Xu
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  5. Hua Zhang
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  7. Jianghai Tian
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  8. Weide Shen
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  9. Bing Li
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Correspondence to Bing Li.

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Min Ni and Fanchi Li contributed equally to this study.

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Ni, M., Li, F., Wang, B. et al. Effect of TiO2 Nanoparticles on the Reproduction of Silkworm. Biol Trace Elem Res 164, 106–113 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-014-0195-1

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