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A New Arylalkylamine N-Acetyltransferase in Silkworm (Bombyx mori) Affects Integument Pigmentation

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Abstract

Dopamine is a precursor for melanin synthesis. Arylalkylamine N-acetyltransferase (AANAT) is involved in the melatonin formation in insects because it could catalyze the transformation from dopamine to dopamine-N-acetyldopamine. In this study, we identified a new AANAT gene in the silkworm (Bombyx mori) and assessed its role in the silkworm. The cDNA of this gene encodes 233 amino acids that shares 57 % amino acid identity with the Bm-iAANAT protein. We thus refer to this gene as Bm-iAANAT2. To investigate the role of Bm-iAANAT2, we constructed a transgenic interference system using a 3xp3 promoter to suppress the expression of Bm-iAANAT2 in the silkworm. We observed that melanin deposition occurs in the head and integument in transgenic lines. To verify the melanism pattern, dopamine content and the enzyme activity of AANAT were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). We found that an increase in dopamine levels affects melanism patterns on the heads of transgenic B. mori. A reduction in the enzyme activity of AANAT leads to changes in dopamine levels. We analyzed the expression of the Bm-iAANAT2 genes by qPCR and found that the expression of Bm-iAANAT2 gene is significantly lower in transgenic lines. Our results lead us to conclude that Bm-iAANAT2 is a new arylalkylamine N-acetyltransferase gene in the silkworm and is involved in the metabolism of the dopamine to avoid the generation of melanin.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Agricultural Science and Technology Transformation fund (no. 2012GB2F100376). We thank Professor Fangyin Dai of Southwest University (Chongqing, China) for providing the silkworm strains. We are grateful to Professor Chunli Chai of Southwest University for the critical reading of the manuscript. Special thanks to Professor Tianfu Zhao of Southwest University for providing the vectors and assistance with silkworm egg injections.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Silkworm Genome Biology, College of Biotechnology, Southwest University, Number 2 Tiansheng Road, Beibei, Chongqing, 400715, China

    Yaohang Long, Jiaorong Li, Tianfu Zhao, Guannan Li & Yong Zhu

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  1. Yaohang Long
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  2. Jiaorong Li
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  3. Tianfu Zhao
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  4. Guannan Li
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  5. Yong Zhu
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Correspondence to Yong Zhu.

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Long, Y., Li, J., Zhao, T. et al. A New Arylalkylamine N-Acetyltransferase in Silkworm (Bombyx mori) Affects Integument Pigmentation. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 175, 3447–3457 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-015-1516-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-015-1516-3

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