Bombyx mori transgenic lines for the induction of constitutive dsRNA interference of the clock gene period

Abstract

The circadian clock of insects consists of interlocking transcriptional feedback
loops which are positively and negatively regulated by the complex interaction of
a number of "clock" genes and their protein products. One of these genes, period
(per), plays a central role in the core of the circadian oscillator of the dipteran
Drosophila melanogaster. Mutations in this gene lead to alterations in circadian
rhythmicity and developmental timing. In order to establish whether similar effects
can also be observed in other insects, we employed a construct suitable for the
embryonic transformation of the lepidopteran Bombyx mori. This construct was
engineered to allow specific ds RNA interference-induced post-transcriptional
gene silencing of the Bombyx per gene. A preliminary molecular characterization
of the resulting transformants shows that several independent transgenic lines
harboring variable numbers of transgenes were obtained.