Study on the basis for genetic code expansion in silkworm

2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24658056
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Applied entomology
• Research Institution: National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences
• Principal Investigator: TERAMOTO Hidetoshi 独立行政法人農業生物資源研究所, 新機能素材研究開発ユニット, 主任研究員 (60391562)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): TAKASU Yoko 独立行政法人農業生物資源研究所・遺伝子組換え研究センター, 新機能素材研究開発ユニット, 主任研究員 (00414912)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2014-03-31
• Keywords: 昆虫 / 生体機能利用 / バイオテクノロジー

Research Abstract

This study aimed to construct the basis for genetic code expansion in silkworm, Bombyx mori. NMD, nonsense-mediated mRNA decay, could be an obstacle for genetic code expansion using stop codon reassignment methodology. In this study, it was investigated that mRNAs intrinsically degraded by NMD could be stabilized by knocking NMD-related genes out in silkworm cultured cells. We transfected TALE nucleases which target NMD-related genes to the cultured cells. Changes in the targeted gene sequences and in the expression of a fluorescent protein whose mRNA is sensitive to NMD were investigated after the transfection. We detected some changes in the targeted gene sequences but no apparent changes in the expression of the fluorescent protein were observed.