Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University, Chikusa, Nagoya, 464-8601, Japan.
Dev Genes Evol. 2009 Oct;219(9-10):437-44. doi: 10.1007/s00427-009-0305-9. Epub 2009 Nov 12.
The formation of abdominal appendages in insects is suppressed by the Hox genes Ultrabithorax (Ubx) and abdominal-A (abd-A), but mechanisms of the suppression can differ among species. As the function of Ubx and abd-A has been described in only a few species, more data from various insects are necessary to elucidate the evolutionary transition of regulation on abdominal appendages. We examined the function of Ubx in the silkworm Bombyx mori (Bm-Ubx) by embryonic RNA interference (RNAi). This is the first case in which functional analysis for Ubx is performed in lepidopteran insects. Larvae treated with Bm-Ubx dsRNA displayed an additional pair of thoracic leg-like protuberances in A1, whereas the other abdominal segments had no transformation. Our results suggest that Bm-Ubx is a suppressor of leg development in A1.
昆虫腹部附肢的形成受同源异型基因 Ultrabithorax（Ubx）和 abdominal-A（abd-A）的抑制，但抑制的机制在不同物种中可能有所不同。由于 Ubx 和 abd-A 的功能仅在少数几种物种中得到描述，因此需要来自各种昆虫的更多数据来阐明腹部附肢调节的进化转变。我们通过胚胎 RNA 干扰（RNAi）检查了家蚕（Bm-Ubx）中 Ubx 的功能。这是首次在家蚕目中进行 Ubx 的功能分析。用 Bm-Ubx dsRNA 处理的幼虫在 A1 中显示出一对额外的胸足样突起，而其他腹部节段没有转化。我们的结果表明，Bm-Ubx 是 A1 中腿部发育的抑制物。
