Physical map of the Bombyx mori DNA containing the gene for silk fibroin.

A physical map of the DNA containing the gene for silk fibroin was developed from direct hybridization analysis of restriction endonuclease digests of total Bombyx mori DNA using fibroin 125I-mRNA. The orientation of mRNA transcription relative to this map was deduced from the sensitivity of the mRNA coding strand within certain DNA restriction segments to lambda-exonuclease and exonuclease III. The map includes the entire gene coding region (Mr approximately 11 x 10(6)) and large DNA elements which flank the gene at its 5' end (Mr approximately 3 x 10(6)) and 3' end (Mr approximately 6.5 x 10(6)). The coding region is remarkably uniform in its sensitivity to restriction endonucleases. It is completely devoid of sites for most of the enzymes tested, including Hae III, the recognition sequence (d-pG-G C-C) of which might be expected to occur frequently in this large DNA block of 60% G + C content. The fibroin coding region does contain an enormous number of sites for enzymes predicted to have activity from known fibroin mRNA sequences. These results suggeste that the fibroin gene core is a large homogeneously repetitive block of DNA with little evidence for sequence divergence, or the presence of qualitatively different sequences, which might creat other restriction sensitivities. The map also allowed a comparison to be made of the fibroin gene "context" in DNA from tissues either active or inactive in fibroin synthesis.