Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Elementary research of the formation mechanism of sex-related fluorescent cocoon of silkworm, Bombyx mori

  • Published:
Molecular Biology Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

To understand mechanisms for the difference of uptaking and transporting the pigments between the male and female in the silkworm, Bombyx mori strain of sex-related fluorescent cocoon, the fluorescent pigments in the midgut lumen, midgut, blood, silk glands and cocoon were analyzed with thin-layer chromatography, and showed that fluorescent colors of cocoons consisted with that of blood and silk glands. The different fluorescent colors of cocoons between the male and female may be mainly caused by the difference of accumulation and transportation for fluorescent pigments in the midgut and in the silk glands. Furthermore the midgut proteins were separated with Native-PAGE, and the proteins respectively recovered from three fluorescent regions presenting on a Native-PAGE gel for the female silkworms were determined using shotgun proteomics and mass spectrometry sequencing, of which 60, 40 and 18 proteins respectively from the region 1, 2 and 3 were identified. It was found that the several kinds of low molecular mass 30 kDa lipoproteins and the actins could be detected in all three regions, troponin, 30 kDa lipoprotein and 27 kDa glycoprotein precursor could be detected in the region 2 and 3, suggesting these proteins may be fluorescent pigments binding candidates proteins. Analysis of gene ontology indicated that the identified proteins in the three regions linked to the cellular component, molecular function, and biological process categories. These results provide a new clew to understand the formation mechanism of sex-related fluorescent cocoon of silkworm.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Chikara H, Hiroshi O, Yasumori T, Masatoshi N (2006) C-prolinylquercetins from the yellow cocoon shell of the silkworm, Bombyx mori. Phytochemistry 67:579–583

    Google Scholar 

  2. Chikara H, Hiroshi O, Yasumori T, Kotaro K, Masatoshi N (2008) Regioselective formation of quercetin 5-O-glucoside from orally administered quercetin in the silkworm, Bombyx mori. Phytochemistry 69:1141–1149

    Google Scholar 

  3. Fujimoto N, Kawakami K (1958) Studies on the pigments of cocoon. (II) Genetical relationship between green cocoon and light green cocoon (Sasamayu) in the silkworm, Bombyx mori. J Seric Sci Jpn 27:391–392

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Hayashiya K, Sugimoto S, Fujimoto N (1959) Studies on the pigments of cocoon. (III) The qualitative test of the pigments of green cocoon. J Seric Sci Jpn 28:27–29

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Hiroko T, Satoshi H, Osamu N, Hiroshi F, Yutaka B, Masashi N, Mika K, Nami M, Shogo A, Kozo T, Hideaki M, Ryoichi S (2004) A carotenoid-binding protein (CBP) plays a crucial role in cocoon pigmentation of silkworm (Bombyx mori) larvae. FEBS Lett 567:175–178

    Google Scholar 

  6. Jia ZS, Tang MC, Wu JM (1999) The determination of flavonoid contents in mulberry and their scavenging effects on superoxide radicals. Food Chem 64:555–559

    Google Scholar 

  7. Kurioka A, Yamazaki M (2002) Purification and identification of flavonoids from the yellow green cocoon shell (Sasamayu) of the silkworm Bombyx mori. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem 66:1396–1399

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Lin CQ, Yao Q, Chen KP, Wu DM (1994) Study on fluorescence of silkworm larval blood, liquid substance in silk gland and cocoon shell. Acta Sericologica Sin 20:43–44 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Liou YM, Kuo SC, Heieh SR (2008) Differential effects of a green tea-derived polyphenol(−)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate on the acidosis induced decrease in the Ca (2+) sensitivity of cardiac and skeletal muscle. Pflugers Arch-Eur J Physiol 456:787–800

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Liu JQ, Yu ZC, Cui YM, Duan ZX (1996) Breading of fluorescence cocoon color sex-limited varieties YingGuang and ChunYu the preparation of their F1 hybrid. Acta Sericologica Sin 22:155–159 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Markus B, Simon T, Andrea S, Sineej M, Frank P, Joannis A, Karim F, Herwig OG (2007) Flavonoids affect actin functions in cytoplasm and nucleus. Biophys J 93:2767–2780

    Google Scholar 

  12. Oku M (1934) Studies on cocoon pigment in the silkworm, Bombyx mori (VIII) quercetin glycosides in mulberry leaves. Nippon Nogeikaguku Kaishi 10:1029–1038 (in Japanese)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Oku M (1934) The chemical studies of silkworm cocoon pigment. Jpn Agric Chem Mag 10:1253–1257

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Sericulture Department of South China Agricultural College (1979) Breeding of sex-limited race Dong 34. Guangdong Seric 1:49–54 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Takaaki D, Chikara H, Masatoshi K, Yoshinao R, Yan M, Eiichi K, Masatoshi N, Gozoh T, Susumu K, Toru S (2010) The silkworm Green b locus encodes a quercetin 5-O-glucosyltransferase that produces green cocoons with UV-shielding properties. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 107:11471–11476

    Google Scholar 

  16. Takashi S, Kozo T, Hiroshi K (2005) BmStart1, a novel carotenoid-binding protein isoform from Bombyx mori, is orthologous to MLN64, a mammalian cholesterol transporter. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 336:1125–1135

    Google Scholar 

  17. Takashi S, Hideki S, Takeharu N, Isao K, Hirofumi F, Keiro U, Yutaka B, Hidetoshi I, Hideaki M, Toshiki T, Hiroshi K, Kozo T (2007) Carotenoid silk coloration is controlled by a carotenoid-binding protein, a product of the Yellow blood gene. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104:8941–8946

    Google Scholar 

  18. Takashi S, Tetsuya I, Junko N, Hideki S, Isao K, Seigo K, Yutaka B, Akitoshi K, Hiromu S, Naoko T, Hirofumi F, Keiko KO, Kazuei M, Toshiki T, Kimiko Y, Kozo T (2010) A CD36-related transmembrane protein is coordinated with an intracellular lipid-binding protein in selective carotenoid transport for cocoon coloration. J Biol Chem 285:7739–7751

    Google Scholar 

  19. Tamura Y, Nakajima K, Nagayasu K, Takabayashi C (2002) Flavonoid 5-glucosides from the cocoon shell of the silkworm, Bombyx mori. Phytochemistry 59:275–278

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Wu CC, MacCoss MJ, Howell KE, Matthews DE, Yates JR (2004) III Metabolic labeling of mammalian organisms for quantitative proteomics analysis. Anal Chem 76:4951–4959

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Xu H, Feng YF (1990) Studies on the fluorescent color, structure and properties. Silk 3:19–21 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Ye J, Fang L, Zheng H, Zhang Y, Chen J, Zhang Z, Wang J, Li S, Li R, Bolund L, Wang J (2006) WEGO: a web tool for plotting GO annotations. Nucleic Acids Res 34 (Web Server issue):W293–W297

  23. Yu XH (2004) Sex discrimination of mulberry silkworm pod and its silkworm variety assertive breeding method. China Patent, CN1515150, 28 July 2004

  24. Yu XH, Xie LQ (1997) Studies on the inheritance of fluorescent colour of cocoons in silkworm, Bombyx mori. Acta Sericologica Sin 23:147–151 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Yu ZC, Liu JQ, Li DY, Duan ZX, Liu YJ, Gu YJ (1997) A preliminary research on fluorescence pigment of the sex-limited fluorescence silkworm race. Acta Sericologica Sin 23:64–67 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Yu ZC, Gu YY, Zhang FL, Shi RC (2000) Studies on difference of fluorescent pigment between female and male larvae of cocoon colour sex distinguished fluorescent silkworm variety. Acta Sericologica Sin 26:123–124

    Google Scholar 

  27. Yu XH, Jia ZW, Yin SQ, Tang YC, Ge J (2008) Breeding of a new silkworm variety “SuXiong × YingXiao” with sex-identified fluorescent cocoon color. Acta Sericologica Sin 34:140–143 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Zdobnov EM, Apweiler R (2001) InterProScan an integration platform for the signature-recognition methods in InterPro. Bioinformatics 17:847–848

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Zhang SZ, Marilyn EM (2003) Effect of the flavonoids biochanin A and silymarin on the P-glycoprotein-mediated transport of digoxin and vinblastine in human intestinal Caco-2 cells. Pharm Res 20:1184–1191

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Zhang YQ, Yu XH, Shen WD, Ma YL, Zhou LX, Xu NX, Yi SQ (2010) Mechanism of fluorescent cocoon sex identification for silkworms Bombyx mori. Sci China Life Sci 53:1330–1339

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31072085), the Key Fostering Project for Application Research of Soochow University (Q3134991), National Department Public Benefit Research Foundation of China (nyhyzx07-020), and Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province of China (BK2009117).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pre-clinical Medical and Biological Science College, Soochow University, No.199 Ren-ai Road, Suzhou, 215123, Jiangsu, China

    Hu Xiaolong, Xue Renyu, Cao Guangli, Zhang Xing, Zhang Yilin, Yu Xiaohua, Zhang Yuqing & Gong Chengliang

  2. National Engineering Laboratory for Modern Silk, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123, China

    Xue Renyu, Cao Guangli, Yu Xiaohua, Zhang Yuqing & Gong Chengliang

Authors
  1. Hu Xiaolong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Xue Renyu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Cao Guangli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Zhang Xing
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Zhang Yilin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Yu Xiaohua
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Zhang Yuqing
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Gong Chengliang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gong Chengliang.

Additional information

Hu Xiaolong and Xue Renyu are contributed equally to this work.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Xiaolong, H., Renyu, X., Guangli, C. et al. Elementary research of the formation mechanism of sex-related fluorescent cocoon of silkworm, Bombyx mori . Mol Biol Rep 39, 1395–1409 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-011-0874-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-011-0874-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation