Genetic and molecular mechanism for information processing in the brain of the silkworm, Bombyx mori

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24248011
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Applied entomology
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: SHIMADA Toru 東京大学, 農学生命科学研究科, 教授 (20202111)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 鱗翅目 / 産卵行動 / 吐糸・営繭行動 / 光周反応 / 休眠 / 遺伝子ノックアウト / RNA-seq

Outline of Final Research Achievements

To understand the brain function in lepidopteran insects, the silkworm mutants for the brain responses to environment or situation are invaluable genetic resources. In this project, strain "u80", which shows abnormal oviposition behavior without copulation, the mutant "Fl", which makes malformed cocoons because of abnormal spinning behavior, and the variant "Lm(e)", which shows photoperiodism in larval stages for diapause properties in the next generation, were utilized for genetic analyses, i.e. trials for positional clonings. As the results, the responsible regions for u80, Fl, and Lm(e) were localized on limited regions on chromosomes 10, 7, and 1, respectively.

Free Research Field

昆虫遺伝学