| Summary: | X Chen*
, F Zhu*
, P Lü, S Ma, A Nouara, Y Yang, K Chen
*
These authors contributed equally to this work
Institute of Life Sciences, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, Jiangsu, P.R. China
Accepted March 10, 2016
Abstract
Insulin/Insulin-like growth factors play important roles in promoting proliferation, differentiation,
growth and development of organisms. In this article, bioinformatics analysis was performed to locate
and identify the Bombyx mori insulin-like peptide (BmILP) gene, which had two introns, three exons,
and a predicted signal peptide at the front, and it also determined that BmILP was the same to the gene
Bombyxin Z1, a member of the bombyxin family. Both the full-length BmILP gene and the gene without
the signal peptide expressed mainly existed in inclusion body forms at different induction conditions
and it was noted that the signal peptide had significant influence on the expression level. In addition,
protein-protein interaction experiments suggested that there was interaction between BmILP and the
autophagy-related protein Atg8, indicating that BmILP may play a role in immunity. It was found was
that BmILP predominantly produced by the ovary among different tissues in the silkworm. Particularly,
the adult females had higher expression levels than the adult males, and the expression level appeared
to be the highest in the mated female moths, suggesting that BmILP may be a key factor in the
regulation of egg maturation in Bombyx mori.
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