State Key Laboratory of Silkworm Genome Biology, Key Laboratory of Sericultural Biology and Genetic Breeding, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Biotechnology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
Int J Mol Sci. 2019 Mar 11;20(5):1221. doi: 10.3390/ijms20051221.
Wnt is a family of conserved glycoproteins that participate in a variety of important biological processes including embryo development, cell proliferation and differentiation, and tissue regeneration. The Wnt family is a metazoan novelty found in all animal phyla. Studies have revealed that the number of genes varies among species, presumably due to reproduction and loss of genes during evolution. However, a comprehensive inventory of genes in Lepidoptera is lacking. In this study, we identified the repertoire of genes in the silkworm and seven other species of Lepidoptera and obtained eight genes (, ⁻, ⁻, and ) in each species. Four of these genes are clustered in two orientations (5'-----3' and 5'-----3') in both moths and butterflies. Transcript analysis of in silkworm embryonic stages showed that each gene had a unique expression pattern during embryological development. Analysis of a larval stage revealed differential expression of family members in diverse tissues. Our study provides an overview of the family in Lepidoptera and will inspire further functional study of the genes in the silkworm.
Wnt 是一个保守的糖蛋白家族，参与多种重要的生物学过程，包括胚胎发育、细胞增殖和分化以及组织再生。Wnt 家族是后生动物的新特征，存在于所有动物门中。研究表明，基因的数量在物种间存在差异，这可能是由于进化过程中基因的繁殖和丢失所致。然而，鳞翅目昆虫的基因全景图尚不清楚。在这项研究中，我们鉴定了家蚕和其他 7 种鳞翅目昆虫的基因库，并在每个物种中获得了 8 个基因（、、、和）。其中 4 个基因以两种取向（5'-----3'和 5'-----3'）在蛾和蝶中聚类。在家蚕胚胎阶段对基因的转录分析表明，每个基因在胚胎发育过程中都有独特的表达模式。对幼虫阶段的分析显示，在不同组织中，基因家族成员的表达存在差异。我们的研究提供了鳞翅目昆虫基因家族的概述，并将激发对家蚕基因的进一步功能研究。
