Comparative mRNA and LncRNA Analysis of the Molecular Mechanisms Associated With Low Silk Production in Bombyx mori

Naked pupa sericin and Naked pupa are two mutant strains of Bombyx mori with extremely low or no fibroin production compared to the Qiufeng and Baiyu strains, both of which exhibit very high silk fibroin production. However, the molecular mechanisms by which long non-coding RNAs regulate fibroin synthesis need further study. In this study, we performed high-throughput RNA-seq to investigate lncRNA and mRNA expression profiles in the posterior silk gland of Qiufeng, Baiyu, Nd-s(D), and Nd silkworms at the third day of the 5th instar. Our efforts yielded 26,767 novel lncRNAs and 6,009 novel mRNAs, the expression levels of silk protein genes and silk gland transcription factors were decreased in Qiufeng vs. Nd-s(D) and Qiufeng vs. Nd, while those of many genes related to autophagy, apoptosis, RNA degradation, ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis and heat shock proteins were increased. Moreover, the expression of a large number of genes responsible for protein synthesis and secretion was significantly decreased in Nd. GO and KEGG analysis results showed that nucleotide excision repair, mRNA surveillance pathways, amino acid degradation, protein digestion and absorption, ER-associated degradation and proteasome pathways were significantly enriched for the Qiufeng vs. Nd-s(D) and Qiufeng vs. Nd comparisons. In conclusion, our findings contribute to the lncRNA and mRNA database of Bombyx mori, and the identified differentially expressed mRNAs and lncRNAs help to reveal the molecular mechanisms of low silk production in Nd-s(D) and Nd, providing new insights for improvement of silk yield and elucidation of silk mechanical properties.

Automated summary

The study identified two mutant strains of Bombyx mori with extremely low silk fibroin production, Naked pupa sericin and Naked pupa, and highlighted the need for further research on the molecular mechanisms of long non-coding RNAs in regulating fibroin synthesis. Differences in gene expression levels were observed between high silk fibroin-producing strains like Qiufeng and Baiyu, and the Nd strain with decreased expression of genes related to protein synthesis and secretion. GO and KEGG analyses revealed enriched pathways related to nucleotide excision repair, mRNA surveillance, and protein degradation in comparisons between different strains.