Molecular Characterization and Tissue Localization of an F-BoxOnly Protein from Silkworm, Bombyx mori

Abstract EN

The eukaryotic F-box protein family is characterized by an F-box motif that has been shown to be critical for the controlled degradation of regulatory proteins.

We identified agene encoding an F-box protein from a cDNA library of silkworm pupae, which has anORF of 1821 bp, encoding a predicted 606 amino acids.

Bioinformatic analysis on theamino acid sequence shows that BmFBXO21 has a low degree of similarity to proteinsfrom other species, and may be related to the regulation of cell-cycle progression.

Wehave detected the expression pattern of BmFBXO21 mRNA and protein and performedimmunohistochemistry at three different levels.

Expression was highest in the spinningstage, and in the tissues of head, epidermis, and genital organs.