No abstract available.
Baculoviridae* ; Bombyx* ; Coinfection*

While studying Bombyx mori "Zipnuae" inoculated with an entomopathogenic fungus, Paecilomyces tenuipes, a mycoparasitic hymenoascomycete with a long neck was isolated from the silkworm rearing room. The fungus was identified as Syspastospora parasitica which has been recognized as a hyperparasite on various moniliaceous hyphomycetes. A descriptive illustration is presented in this study.
Ascomycota* ; Bombyx* ; Fungi* ; Mitosporic Fungi ; Neck ; Paecilomyces*

Bombyx Batryticatus is a precious traditional Chinese animal drug commonly used in clinical practice in China, which has the effects of extinguishing wind, stopping convulsions, dispelling wind, relieving pain, resolving phlegm, and dissipating mass. The processing of Bombyx Batryticatus has a long history. As early as in the Liu Song period of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, there was a record of the processing of Bombyx Batryticatus with rice swill. In addition to the processing with bran, honey bran, and ginger juice, which are still used today, there are also processing methods such as rendering, flour processing, wine processing, salt processing, oil processing, charcoal, and red dates processing in ancient times. After processing, the fishy smell of Bombyx Batryticatus can be removed, and avoid nausea and vomiting caused by the direct taking. Furthermore, processing can also facilitate the removal of surface hairs and toxicity reduction, making the medicinal material crispy and easy to crush. Previous studies have shown that the main chemical constituents of Bombyx Batryticatus include protein polypeptides, sterols, and flavonoids, with anticonvulsant, anticoagulation, antithrombotic, anti-cancer, hypnotic, hypoglycemic, and other pharmacological effects. This paper reviewed the processing historical evolution, chemical constituents, and pharmacological effects of Bombyx Batryticatus to lay a foundation for the research on the processing mechanism, quality control, and active core substances of Bombyx Batryticatus.
Animals ; Bombyx ; China ; Evolution, Chemical ; Flavonoids ; Fruit

The anti-diabetes mechanism of silkworm Bombyx mori L. powder and extracts was found to inhibit the activity of alpha-glycosidase. The major functional component of silkworm powder was 1-deoxynojirimycin (1-DNJ), which exerts a blood glucose-lowering effect. In this study, we aimed to compare the effects of the supplements, including red ginseng extract on the functional components of silkworm. Fifty silkworm larvae were divided into the control group (Con, N=50), group A (A, artificial diet 95% and mulberry leaf powder 5%), group B (B, artificial diet 95% and mulberry powder 5%), group C (C, artificial diet 95% and Rubus coreanus remainders 5%), group D (D, artificial diet 95% and red ginseng extract 5%), and group E (E, artificial diet 95% and yeast powder (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). Body weights and length of silkworm larvae showed significant improvement in group A, D. In particular, the growth rate in group D (artificial diet 95% and red ginseng extract 5%) was larger than that of Con. In addition, the results showed that 1-DNJ concentration was significantly largest in group D. From these results, it is concluded that the addition of red ginseng extract may be effective for larval growth and 1-DNJ accumulation in silkworm rearing with an artificial diet.
1-Deoxynojirimycin ; Body Weight ; Bombyx ; Diet ; Larva ; Morus ; Panax ; Yeasts

Silkworm is a holometabolous insect of Lepidoptera. During metamorphosis, significant morphological changes happen including the dissociation of old tissues and remodeling of new tissues. It has been reported that cathepsins are involved in these processes. Cathepsin is a kind of intracellular proteinase that exists in many species. It includes some subfamilies like cathepsin B, H and L. The studies on cathepsin are useful for clarifying the details of silkworm metamorphosis process. In total, 13 cathepsins were identified by screening the silkworm genome database. The basic information and the expression patterns about these genes were analyzed. Interestingly, an ovary-specific cathepsin L gene (Gene ID: BGIBMGAOO4622) was investigated by the data of silkworm microarray and real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR). The full-length cDNA is 1,209 bp, encoding a protein with 402 amino acids. Sequences alignment revealed that it has a high sequence similarity with cathepsin L of other species, and it is highly conserved in the active-site of the enzyme. The phylogenetic analysis showed that ovary-specific cathepsin L is clustered with other lepidopterous insects. Furthermore, this gene was cloned and prokaryotic expressed. Recombinant protein was present in inclusion body. Importantly, the qPCR result showed that the expression level of this gene is increasing during the early stage of pupal development and reaches the highest value at the 3rd day of pupal stage, which suggests that this gene may be involved in the process of development of the ovary and oocyte.
Animals ; Bombyx ; genetics ; Cathepsins ; genetics ; Insect Proteins ; genetics ; Phylogeny

This study was conducted to confirm the possible use of female Yangwonjam as a host for synnemata production of Isaria tenuipes in eight local areas in Korea. Silkworm pupation rate, infection rate and synnemata characteristics of I. tenuipes were examined. Normal silkworms had a higher pupation rate than silkworms inoculated with I. tenuipes. The pupae survival percentage of normal silkworm in cocoons was 92.5~97.6%, whereas it ranged from 91.1~95.6% in silkworms sprayed with I. tenuipes. Female Yangwonjam showed the highest survival percentage at 97.6% among the silkworm varieties tested. I. tenuipes infection rate of larvae of 5th instar newly-exuviated silkworms was 89.2~90.7% in the spring rearing season and 98.2~99.3% in the autumn rearing season. Synnemata production of I. tenuipes was excellent in female Yangwonjam with an incidence rate of 98.0% followed by male Yangwonjam (94.1%) and Baegokjam (93.3%) in the spring rearing season. Synnemata living weight ranged from 1.44~0.94 g in the spring rearing season. The female Yangwonjam had the heaviest synnemata weight (1.44 g) in the spring rearing season. The synnemata of I. tenuipes produced on pupae were white or milky-white in color, and were similar in shape and color to wild synnemata collected in Korea.
Bombyx ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Larva ; Male ; Pupa ; Seasons

Identifying and comparing the chemical constituents of wild silkworm cocoon and silkworm cocoon is of great significance for understanding the domestication of silkworm. In this study, we used high temperature and high pressure and methanol-water system to extract cocoon chemical constituents. We used UHPLC-MS to identify and compare cocoon chemical constituents of wild silkworm and domestic silkworm Dazao and Haoyue strains. The cocoon metabolic fingerprints of wild silkworm and domestic silkworm Dazao and Haoyue strains were obtained by using the UHPLC-MS in the positive ion mode and negative ion mode. By annotation, we found that cocoon chemical compounds with high abundances contained amino acids, flavonoids, alkaloids, terpenes, organic acids, and lignans. PLS-DA showed that the cocoon components were significantly different among the wild silkworm and two domestic silkworm strains Dazao and Haoyue. Proline, leucine/isoleucine and phenylalanine showed significantly higher abundances in the cocoon of domestic silkworm Dazao strain than in those of wild silkworm and domestic silkworm Haoyue strain. The flavonoid secondary metabolites are abundant in the Dazao cocoon, including quercetin, isoquercetin, quercetin 3-O-sophoroside, quercetin-3-O-α-L-rhamnoside, quercetin-3-O- rutinoside, and kaempferol. The other secondary metabolites, alkaloids, terpenes and lignans, showed higher abundances in the wild silkworm cocoon than in the domestic silkworm cocoon, including neurine, candicine, pilocarpidine, artemisiifolin, eupassopin, and eudesobovatol. By exposing cocoons to UV light and observing the green fluorescence of flavonoids, we found that Dazao cocoon had the most flavonoids, and Haoyue cocoon had least flavonoids and wild silkworm cocoon had mediate flavonoids. Alkaloids and organic acids are good anti-insect and antimicrobial agents, which have high abundance in the wild silkworm cocoon and could enhance the defense ability of wild silkworm cocoon. Flavonoids are abundant in the cocoon of domestic silkworm Dazao strain, which the main factors are leading to the yellow-green cocoon of Dazao.
Animals ; Bombyx ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Flavonoids ; Mass Spectrometry

To investigate whether BF-7, extracted from Bombyx mori, improved learning and memory of ordinary people, Rey-Kim Memory Test was performed with placebo group (32 persons), 200 mg BF-7 treated group (33 persons) and 400 mg BF-7 treated group (34 persons). BF-7 enhanced significantly learning and memory function in a dose-dependent manner. To know how BF-7 plays such a positive role, we measured the concentration of acetylcholine in the brain from memory impairment animal model. Treatment of BF-7 significantly increased the concentration of acetylcholine. So, it is supposed that the protection of cholinergic neuron and/or keeping proper concentration of acetylcholine might be one of the mechanisms by which BF-7 improve brain function. So, our results suggest that the BF-7 is effective material for improving learning and memory ability.
Acetylcholine ; Bombyx ; Brain ; Cholinergic Neurons ; Humans ; Learning* ; Memory* ; Models, Animal

Injection inoculation protocols for fruit body formation of Cordyceps militaris (C. militaris) were investigated to improve the incidence of infection in the silkworm species Bombyx mori (B. mori). Injection, with suspensions of C. militaris hyphal bodies into living silkworm pupae, was used to test for fruit body production. Use of Daeseungjam rather than Baegokjam or Keumokjam varieties of B. mori is thought to be suitable for infection by C. militaris. From mounting, nine-day-old to 11-day-old pupae showed the best incidence of infection with a 100 microL injection volume. Silkworm pupae injected with a hyphal suspension concentration of more than 2 x 105 colony-forming unit (cfu) recorded a greater than 96% incidence of infection. Also, fruit bodies of C. militaris were induced and produced at a light intensity between 500 and 1,000 lx.
Bombyx ; Cordyceps ; Fruit ; Incidence ; Light ; Pupa ; Stem Cells ; Suspensions

Aims: This study was designed to investigate the antibacterial properties of the sericin protein Bombyx mori and Samia cynthia ricini against Gram-negative Escherichia coli and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus strains. Methodology and results: Sericin protein was extracted from the cocoons of B. mori races A, B, C, D, F1-1, F1-2 and S. ricini from Indonesia using a degumming process. The extracted sericin protein was evaluated as anti-microbials using Kirby Breuer disc diffusion, spectrometer measurement in decreasing OD value and imaging scanning electron microscope (SEM). The tests revealed that sericin protein from B. mori was more capable of inhibiting bacteria S. aureus than E. coli. Sericin protein from S. ricini was also capable of strongly inhibiting both S. aureus and E. coli bacteria. The sericin proteins of B. mori and S. ricini were found to reduce the number of S. aureus and E. coli bacteria as the OD value decreased at a concentration of 9%. The SEM imaging suggests that sericin B. mori and S. ricini proteins caused changes in cell morphology in S. aureus and E. coli bacteria, resulting in bacterial cell function disruption and death. Conclusion, significance and impact of study Bombyx mori and S. ricini sericin proteins were found to act against S. aureus and E. coli bacteria. Therefore, sericin protein has a greater antibacterial activity against Gram-positive strain S. aureus.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Sericins ; Bombyx ; Lepidoptera ; Escherichia coli ; Staphylococcus aureus