Open AccessImaginal disc growth factor maintains cuticle structure and controls melanization in the spot pattern formation of Bombyx mori
Author(s) -
Yun Gao,
YunCai Liu,
S. R. Jia,
Yan-Ting Liang,
Yu Tang,
Ye Xu,
Hideki Kawasaki,
Huabing Wang
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
plos genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.587
H-Index - 233
eISSN - 1553-7404
pISSN - 1553-7390
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pgen.1008980
Subject(s) - biology , bombyx mori , imaginal disc , cuticle (hair) , ecdysone , microbiology and biotechnology , transcription factor , melanin , phenotype , arthropod cuticle , function (biology) , insect , genetics , gene , botany
The complex stripes and patterns of insects play key roles in behavior and ecology. However, the fine-scale regulation mechanisms underlying pigment formation and morphological divergence remain largely unelucidated. Here we demonstrated that imaginal disc growth factor (IDGF) maintains cuticle structure and controls melanization in spot pattern formation of Bombyx mori . Moreover, our knockout experiments showed that IDGF is suggested to impact the expression levels of the ecdysone inducible transcription factor E75A and pleiotropic factors apt-like and Toll8/spz3, to further control the melanin metabolism. Furthermore, the untargeted metabolomics analyses revealed that BmIDGF significantly affected critical metabolites involved in phenylalanine, beta-alanine, purine, and tyrosine metabolism pathways. Our findings highlighted not only the universal function of IDGF to the maintenance of normal cuticle structure but also an underexplored space in the gene function affecting melanin formation. Therefore, this study furthers our understanding of insect pigment metabolism and melanin pattern polymorphisms.