Editing Bombyx mori (section)

== Research ==
[[File:Micrographia Schem 25 fig 2.jpg|thumb|A study of an egg of a silkworm from Hooke's ''[[Micrographia]]'', 1665]]
[[File:Maria_Sibylla_Merian_Maulbeerbaum_samt_Frucht_plate_1.png|thumb|right|1679 study of the silkworm metamorphosis by [[Maria Sibylla Merian]], it depicts the fruit and leaves of a [[mulberry]] tree and the eggs and larvae of the silkworm moth.]]
Due to its small size and ease of culture, the silkworm has become a [[model organism]] in the study of lepidopteran and general arthropod biology. Fundamental findings on genetics, pheromones, hormones, brain structures, and physiology have been made with the silkworm.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Onaga |first=Lisa |date=2010-03-11 |orig-date= |title=Toyama Kametaro and Vernon Kellogg: Silkworm Inheritance Experiments in Japan, Siam, and the United States, 1900–1912 |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10739-010-9222-z |journal=Journal of the History of Biology |language=en |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=215–264 |doi=10.1007/s10739-010-9222-z |pmid=20665229 |issn=0022-5010}}</ref>{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}} One example of this was the molecular identification of the first known pheromone, [[bombykol]], which required extracts from 500,000 individuals, due to the small quantities of pheromone produced by any individual silkworm.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}}

Many research works have focused on the genetics of silkworms and the possibility of genetic engineering. Many hundreds of strains are maintained, and over 400 [[Mendelian inheritance|Mendelian mutation]]s have been described.<ref name=Goldsmith1>{{cite journal |last1=Goldsmith |first1=Marian R. |last2=Shimada |first2=Toru |last3=Abe |first3=Hiroaki |date=2005 |title=The genetics and genomics of the silkworm, Bombyx mori |journal=Annual Review of Entomology |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=71–100|doi=10.1146/annurev.ento.50.071803.130456 |pmid=15355234 |s2cid=44514698 |url=https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/bio_facpubs/337 }}</ref> Another source suggests 1,000 inbred domesticated strains are kept worldwide.<ref name="silkworm08"/> One useful development for the silk industry is silkworms that can feed on food other than mulberry leaves, including an artificial diet.<ref name=Goldsmith1 /> Research on the genome also raises the possibility of genetically engineering silkworms to produce proteins, including pharmacological drugs, in the place of silk proteins. ''Bombyx mori'' females are also one of the few organisms with homologous chromosomes held together only by the [[synaptonemal complex]] (and not crossovers) during [[meiosis]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Gerton and Hawley|title=Homologous Chromosome Interactions in Meiosis: Diversity Amidst Conservation|journal=Nature Reviews Genetics|date=2005|volume=6|issue=6|pages=477–487|doi=10.1038/nrg1614|pmid=15931171|s2cid=31929047}}</ref>  In the oocytes of ''B. mori'', meiosis is completely [[chiasma (genetics)|achiasmate]] (lacking crossovers).<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Xiang Y, Tsuchiya D, Guo F, Gardner J, McCroskey S, Price A, Tromer EC, Walters JR, Lake CM, Hawley RS |title=A molecular cell biology toolkit for the study of meiosis in the silkworm Bombyx mori |journal=G3 (Bethesda) |volume=13 |issue=5 |pages= |date=May 2023 |pmid=36911915 |pmc=10151401 |doi=10.1093/g3journal/jkad058 |url=}}</ref> Even though [[synaptonemal complex]]es are formed during the [[pachytene]] stage of meiosis in ''B. mori'', crossing-over [[homologous recombination]] does not occur between the paired [[chromosome]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Rasmussen SW |title=The transformation of the Synaptonemal Complex into the 'elimination chromatin' in Bombyx mori oocytes |journal=Chromosoma |volume=60 |issue=3 |pages=205–21 |date=April 1977 |pmid=870294 |doi=10.1007/BF00329771 |url=}}</ref>

[[Kraig Biocraft Laboratories]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Kraig Biocraft Laboratories|date=13 October 2014|url=http://www.kraiglabs.com/spider-silk/}}</ref>
has used research from the [[University of Wyoming|Universities of Wyoming]] and [[University of Notre Dame|Notre Dame]] in a collaborative effort to create a silkworm that is genetically altered to produce spider silk. In September 2010, the effort was announced as successful.<ref>{{cite web|title=University of Notre Dame|date=6 January 2012 |url=http://science.nd.edu/news/34100-hybrid-silkworms-spin-stronger-spider-silk/}}</ref>

Researchers at [[Tufts Medical Center|Tufts]] developed scaffolds made of spongy silk that feel and look similar to human tissue. They are implanted during reconstructive surgery to support or restructure damaged ligaments, tendons, and other tissue. They also created implants made of silk and drug compounds which can be implanted under the skin for steady and gradual time release of medications.<ref>{{cite web|author=Wolchover, Natalie|title=The Silk Renaissance |publisher=Seed Magazine |url=http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/the_silk_renaissance/|access-date=1 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170326051023/http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/the_silk_renaissance|archive-date=26 March 2017|url-status=unfit}}</ref>

Researchers at the [[MIT Media Lab]] experimented with silkworms to see what they would weave when left on surfaces with different curvatures. They found that on particularly straight webs of lines, the silkworms would connect neighboring lines with silk, weaving directly onto the given shape. Using this knowledge they built a [[Neri Oxman#Silk Pavilion|silk pavilion]] with 6,500 silkworms over a number of days.

Silkworms have been used in antibiotic discovery, as they have several advantageous traits compared to other invertebrate models.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Panthee | first1 = S. | last2 = Paudel | first2 = A. | last3 = Hamamoto | first3 = H. | last4 = Sekimizu | first4 = K. | year = 2017 | title = Advantages of the silkworm as an animal model for developing novel antimicrobial agents | journal = Front Microbiol | volume = 8 | page = 373 | doi = 10.3389/fmicb.2017.00373 | pmid = 28326075 | pmc = 5339274 | doi-access = free }}</ref> Antibiotics such as [[lysocin E]],<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Hamamoto | first1 = H. | last2 = Urai | first2 = M. | last3 = Ishii | first3 = K. | last4 = Yasukawa | first4 = J. | last5 = Paudel | first5 = A. | last6 = Murai | first6 = M. | last7 = Kaji | first7 = T. | last8 = Kuranaga | first8 = T. | last9 = Hamase | first9 = K. | last10 = Katsu | first10 = T. | last11 = Su | first11 = J. | last12 = Adachi | first12 = T. | last13 = Uchida | first13 = R. | last14 = Tomoda | first14 = H. | last15 = Yamada | first15 = M. | last16 = Souma | first16 = M. | last17 = Kurihara | first17 = H. | last18 = Inoue | first18 = M. | last19 = Sekimizu | first19 = K. |display-authors=3| year = 2015 | title = Lysocin E is a new antibiotic that targets menaquinone in the bacterial membrane. Nat | journal = Chem. Biol. | volume = 11 | issue = 2| pages = 127–133 | doi = 10.1038/nchembio.1710 | pmid = 25485686 }}</ref> a non-ribosomal peptide synthesized by ''Lysobacter'' sp. RH2180-5<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Panthee | first1 = S. | last2 = Hamamoto | first2 = H. | last3 = Suzuki | first3 = Y. | last4 = Sekimizu | first4 = K. | year = 2017 | title = In silico identification of lysocin biosynthetic gene cluster from Lysobacter sp. RH2180-5 | journal = J. Antibiot. | volume = 70 | issue = 2| pages = 204–207 | doi = 10.1038/ja.2016.102 | pmid = 27553855 | s2cid = 40912719 }}</ref> and GPI0363<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Paudel | first1 = A. | last2 = Hamamoto | first2 = H. | last3 = Panthee | first3 = S. | last4 = Kaneko | first4 = K. | last5 = Matsunaga | first5 = S. | last6 = Kanai | first6 = M. | last7 = Suzuki | first7 = Y. | last8 = Sekimizu | first8 = K. |display-authors=3| year = 2017 | title = A novel spiro-heterocyclic compound identified by the silkworm infection model inhibits transcription in ''Staphylococcus aureus'' | journal = Front Microbiol | volume = 8 | page = 712 | doi = 10.3389/fmicb.2017.00712 | pmid = 28487682 | pmc = 5403886 | doi-access = free }}</ref> are among the notable antibiotics discovered using silkworms.
In addition, antibiotics with appropriate pharmacokinetic parameters were selected that correlated with therapeutic activity in the silkworm infection model.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Paudel | first1 = A. | last2 = Panthee | first2 = S. | last3 = Makoto | first3 = U. | last4 = Hamamoto | first4 = H. | last5 = Ohwada | first5 = T. | last6 = Sekimizu | first6 = K. |display-authors=3|year = 2018 | title = Pharmacokinetic parameters explain the therapeutic activity of antimicrobial agents in a silkworm infection model. | journal = Sci. Rep. | volume = 8 | issue = 1 | pages = 1578 | doi = 10.1038/s41598-018-19867-0 | pmid = 29371643 | pmc = 5785531 | bibcode = 2018NatSR...8.1578P | s2cid = 3328235 }}</ref>

Silkworms have also been used for the identification of novel virulence factors of pathogenic microorganisms. A first large-scale screening using transposon mutant library of ''Staphylococcus aureus'' USA300 strain was performed which identified 8 new genes with roles in full virulence of ''S. aureus''.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Paudel | first1 = A. | last2 = Hamamoto | first2 = H. | last3 = Panthee | first3 = S. | last4 = Matsumoto | first4 = Y. | last5 = Sekimizu | first5 = K. |display-authors=3 |year = 2020 | title = Large-Scale Screening and Identification of Novel Pathogenic Staphylococcus aureus Genes Using a Silkworm Infection Model. | journal = J. Infect. Dis. | volume = 221 | issue = 11 | pages = 1795–1804 | doi = 10.1093/infdis/jiaa004 | pmid = 31912866}}</ref> Another study by the same team of researchers revealed, for the first time, the role of YjbH in virulence and oxidative stress tolerance in vivo.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Paudel | first1 = A. | last2 = Panthee | first2 = S. | last3 = Hamamoto | first3 = H. | last4 = Grunert | first4 = T. | last5 = Sekimizu | first5 = K. |year = 2021 | title = YjbH regulates virulence genes expression and oxidative stress resistance in Staphylococcus aureus. | journal = Virulence | volume = 12 | issue = 1 | pages = 470–480 | doi = 10.1080/21505594.2021.1875683 |issn=2150-5594| pmid = 33487122| pmc = 7849776 | doi-access = free }}</ref>