Xia Yuchen, Jiang Mouzhen, Hu Xiaoxuan, Wang Qing, Qian Cen, Zhu Baojian, Wei Guoqing, Wang Lei
School of Life Science, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China.
Insects. 2023 Jun 13;14(6):550. doi: 10.3390/insects14060550.
Nuclease is a type of protein that degrades nucleic acids, which plays an important role in biological processes, including RNA interference efficiency and antiviral immunity. However, no evidence of a link between nuclease and nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) infection in silkworm has been found. In this study, a protein asteroid (BmAst) containing the PIN domain and XPG domain was identified in silkworm . gene was highest expressed in hemocytes and fat body of the 5th instar larvae, and high expression in the pupa stage. The transcriptional levels of the gene in 5th instar larvae were significantly induced by BmNPV or dsRNA. After knocking down gene expression by specific dsRNA, the proliferation of BmNPV in was increased significantly, whereas the survival rate of larvae was significantly lower when compared with the control. Our findings indicate that BmAst is involved in silkworm resistance to BmNPV infection.
核酸酶是一种降解核酸的蛋白质，在生物过程中发挥重要作用，包括RNA干扰效率和抗病毒免疫。然而，尚未发现核酸酶与家蚕核型多角体病毒（BmNPV）感染之间存在关联的证据。在本研究中，在家蚕中鉴定出一种含有PIN结构域和XPG结构域的蛋白质小行星（BmAst）。该基因在五龄幼虫的血细胞和脂肪体中表达最高，在蛹期也有高表达。五龄幼虫中该基因的转录水平受到BmNPV或dsRNA的显著诱导。通过特异性dsRNA敲低该基因表达后，BmNPV在其中的增殖显著增加，而与对照相比，幼虫的存活率显著降低。我们的研究结果表明，BmAst参与家蚕对BmNPV感染的抗性。
