AUTHOR=Moto Ken-Ichi , Matsumoto Shogo 

TITLE=Construction of an in vivo System for Functional Analysis of the Genes Involved in Sex Pheromone Production in the Silkmoth, Bombyx mori

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Endocrinology

VOLUME=3

YEAR=2012

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/endocrinology/articles/10.3389/fendo.2012.00030

DOI=10.3389/fendo.2012.00030

ISSN=1664-2392

ABSTRACT=<p>Moths produce species-specific sex pheromones to attract conspecific mates. The biochemical processes that comprise sex pheromone biosynthesis are precisely regulated and a number of gene products are involved in this biosynthesis and regulation. In recent years, at least 300 EST clones have been isolated from <italic>Bombyx mori</italic> pheromone gland (PG) specific cDNA libraries with some of those clones [i.e., <italic>B. mori</italic> PG-specific desaturase 1 (Bmpgdesat1), PG-specific fatty acyl reductase, PG-specific acyl-CoA-binding protein, <italic>B. mori</italic> fatty acid transport protein, <italic>B. mori</italic> lipid storage droplet protein-1] characterized and demonstrated to play a role in sex pheromone production. However, most of the EST clones have yet to be fully characterized and identified. To develop an efficient system for analyzing sex pheromone production-related genes, we investigated the feasibility of a novel gene analysis system using the upstream region of <italic>Bmpgdesat1</italic> that should contain a PG-specific gene promoter in conjunction with <italic>piggyBac</italic> vector-mediated germ line transformation. As a result, we have been able to obtain expression of our reporter gene (enhanced green fluorescent protein) in the PG but not in other tissues of transgenic <italic>B. mori</italic>. Current results indicate that we have successfully constructed a novel <italic>in vivo</italic> gene analysis system for sex pheromone production in <italic>B. mori</italic>.</p>