ABSTRACT
Sericulture has immense economic significance. Separating male and female silkworm pupae for egg production in grainage is a laborious task; hence, sex-limited breeds for cocoon color are advantageous for this process. The major constraint in sex-limited breeds is their low fecundity. Sex-limited female moths lay a lower number of eggs than nonsex-limited breeds. Polyamine, spermidine was shown to improve fecundity in several organisms, including the silkworm, Bombyx mori L. In the present study, cocoon color sex-limited breeds, HTO2SL, APS27SL, and SLFC27, were selected and fed with spermidine to improve fecundity and nutritional efficiency. The fifth-instar silkworm larvae of the selected breeds were subjected to standard rearing conditions with and without spermidine supplementation up to spinning. The spermidine-supplemented sex-limited breeds exhibited a significant increase in fecundity, nutritional indices, and economic parameters compared with the control sex-limited breeds. Among the 3 sex-limited breeds tested, the performance of APS27SL improved significantly.
ABSTRACT
Silkworms have limited ability to regulate their body temperature; therefore, environmental changes, such as global warming, can adversely affect their viability. Polyamines have shown protection to various organisms against heat stress. This study evaluated the qualitative and quantitative changes in heat-stressed Bombyx mori larvae polyamines. Fifth instar Bombyx mori larvae were divided into two groups; control group, reared at room temperature, i.e., 28 ± 2 °C, and the heat shock group, exposed to 40 °C. Dansylation of the whole worm polyamines and subsequent thin-layer chromatography revealed the presence of components with the same Rf value as dansyl-putrescine, spermidine, and spermine. The dansyl-putrescine, spermidine, and spermine polyamines were identified by mass spectrometric analyses. After heat shock, the thin-layer chromatography of the whole-larvae tissue extracts showed qualitative and quantitative changes in dansylated polyamines. A new polyamine, caldopentamine, was identified, which showed elevated levels in heat-stressed larvae. This polyamine could play a role in helping the larvae tolerate various stress, including thermal stress. No significant changes in silk fiber's economic and mechanical properties were observed in our study. This study indicated that PA, caldopentamine, supplementation could improve heat-stress tolerance in Bombyx mori.
Subject(s)
Bombyx , Animals , Spermidine , Putrescine , Spermine , Polyamines/analysisABSTRACT
Silkworms have limited ability to regulate their body temperature upon exposure to varying atmospheric temperatures. Environmental changes, such as global warming, adversely affect silkworm viability. Spermidine, a polyamine, protects various organisms against heat stress. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of spermidine on the thermotolerance of Bombyx mori larvae. 5th instar Bombyx mori larvae were divided into the control and spermidine groups and reared at 28 ± 1 °C and 80%-85% relative humidity. To induce heat stress, the larvae were exposed to various temperatures 32 °C, 36 °C, and 40 °C for 1 h on day 5 and subsequently allowed to recover at 28 ± 1 °C. Growth characteristics were evaluated by examining larval viability and quantifying proteins and carbohydrates. The thermotolerance of the spermidine group was higher than that of the control group at 40 °C heat stress conditions. The spermidine feeding increased the protein content and reduced the carbohydrate content significantly under heat stress condition. For the first time, this study demonstrated that spermidine alleviated thermal stress by enhancing the nutritional indices and antioxidant potential of the Bombyx mori larvae. A significant increase in economic properties was observed in spermidine fed groups. Thus, foliar feeding of spermidine to B. mori larvae markedly improved silkworm thermotolerance.
