Efficient and stable generation of transgenic silkworm, Bombyx mori with the lepidopteran derived transposon piggyBac

Transposable elements, such as P element, have be-come important tools in the study of gene function in Drosophila melanogaster. Their applications are manifold, serving as mutagens and molecular tags for identification and isolation of new genes, and as vehicles for introducing custom-made gene sequences into organism’s genome1]. However, the use of P elements appears to be only re-stricted to Drosophila2,3]. Recently, foreign genes have been successfully introduced into several other gr…

Efficient and stable generation of transgenic silkworm, Bombyx mori with the lepi-dopteran derived transposon piggyBac

The piggyBac transposable element was successfully used for generation of the transgenic silkworm, Bombyx mori. The EGFP was adopted in this study as a screening marker in transgenic vector under the control of an artificial promoter containing Pax-6 binding sites that can drive eye-specific genes expression in various insect species including B. mori and Drosophila. 111 independent transgenic lines were obtained among 700 fertile Go moths. Most of the transgenic lines contained two or more chromosomal insertions of the EGFP marker, which were stably inherited over more than six generations during the time of this project. PiggyBac-mediated transposition was confirmed by identifying the characteristic TTAA duplication sequence at the insertion sites. The stable and high efficient transmission of a genetic marker into B. mori confirms the usage of this vector-marker system for industrial production and theoretical research.