Genetic relatedness does not predict the queen's successors in the primitively eusocial wasp, .

is a social wasp in which colonies consist of a single fertile queen and several sterile workers. If the queen is removed, one of the workers, potential queen (PQ), becomes hyperaggressive and becomes the next queen. The identity of the PQ cannot be predicted in the presence of the queen.

Role of Bmznf-2, a Bombyx mori CCCH zinc finger gene, in masculinisation and differential splicing of Bmtra-2.

Deciphering the regulatory factors involved in Bombyx mori sex determination has been a puzzle, challenging researchers for nearly a century now. The pre-mRNA of B. mori doublesex (Bmdsx), a master regulator gene of sexual differentiation, is differentially spliced, producing Bmdsxm and Bmdsxf transcripts in males and females respectively.

Construction, complete sequence, and annotation of a BAC contig covering the silkworm chorion locus.

The silkmoth chorion was studied extensively by F.C. Kafatos' group for almost 40 years.

A comprehensive analysis of the chorion locus in silkmoth.

Despite more than 40 years of intense study, essential features of the silkmoth chorion (eggshell) are still not fully understood. To determine the precise structure of the chorion locus, we performed extensive EST analysis, constructed a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) contig, and obtained a continuous genomic sequence of 871,711 base pairs. We annotated 127 chorion genes in two segments interrupted by a 164 kb region with 5 non-chorion genes, orthologs of which were on chorion bearing scaffolds in 4 ditrysian families.

Noduler an immune protein augments infection-induced cell proliferation through cross-talking with p38 MAPK.

Noduler, an immune protein that mediates nodule formation by binding to specific bacteria and hemocytes was previously reported in the wild tasar silkworm, Antheraea mylitta. However, the molecular mechanism underlying nodulation in lepidopterans remains unclear. The present study is performed to investigate the functional connection between Noduler with various signalling pathways.

Discovery and mapping of genomic regions governing economically important traits of Basmati rice.

Background: Basmati rice, originated in the foothills of Himalayas, commands a premium price in the domestic and international markets on account of its unique quality traits. The complex genetic nature of unique traits of Basmati as well as tedious screening methodologies involved in quality testing have been serious constraints to breeding quality Basmati. In the present study, we made an attempt to identify the genomic regions governing unique traits of Basmati rice.

De novo assembly and transcriptome analysis of the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata early embryos.

The agricultural pest Ceratitis capitata, also known as the Mediterranean fruit fly or Medfly, belongs to the Tephritidae family, which includes a large number of other damaging pest species. The Medfly has been the first non-drosophilid fly species which has been genetically transformed paving the way for designing genetic-based pest control strategies. Furthermore, it is an experimentally tractable model, in which transient and transgene-mediated RNAi have been successfully used.

Positive selection drives faster-Z evolution in silkmoths.

Genes linked to X or Z chromosomes, which are hemizygous in the heterogametic sex, are predicted to evolve at different rates than those on autosomes. This "faster-X effect" can arise either as a consequence of hemizygosity, which leads to more efficient selection for recessive beneficial mutations in the heterogametic sex, or as a consequence of reduced effective population size of the hemizygous chromosome, which leads to increased fixation of weakly deleterious mutations due to genetic drift. Empirical results to date suggest that, while the overall pattern across taxa is complicated, systems with male heterogamy show a faster-X effect attributable to more efficient selection, whereas the faster-Z effect in female-heterogametic taxa is attributable to increased drift.

Nodulation: an unexplored cellular defense mechanism in insects.

Nodulation is a highly conserved process that involves aggregation of cells around microorganisms, leading to their entrapment with the help of cellular milieu. In insects upon infection, the humoral and cellular arms of the innate immune system orchestrate recognition of pathogens facilitating effector responses through various signaling pathways. Existing data suggests a wide range of immune functions for multiple pattern recognition molecules but their role in nodulation is not known.

Computational analyses of protein coded by rice (Oryza sativa japonica) cDNA (GI: 32984786) indicate lectin like Ca(2+) binding properties for Eicosapenta Peptide Repeats (EPRs).

Eicosapenta peptide repeats (EPRs) occur exclusively in flowering plant genomes and exhibit very high amino acid residue conservation across occurrence. DNA and amino acid sequence searches yielded no indications about the function due to absence of similarity to known sequences. Tertiary structure of an EPR protein coded by rice (Oryza sativa japonica) cDNA (GI: 32984786) was determined based on ab initio methodology in order to draw clues on functional significance of EPRs.

Large scale full-length cDNA sequencing reveals a unique genomic landscape in a lepidopteran model insect, Bombyx mori.

The establishment of a complete genomic sequence of silkworm, the model species of Lepidoptera, laid a foundation for its functional genomics. A more complete annotation of the genome will benefit functional and comparative studies and accelerate extensive industrial applications for this insect. To realize these goals, we embarked upon a large-scale full-length cDNA collection from 21 full-length cDNA libraries derived from 14 tissues of the domesticated silkworm and performed full sequencing by primer walking for 11,104 full-length cDNAs.

Pyrosequencing-based transcriptome analysis of the asian rice gall midge reveals differential response during compatible and incompatible interaction.

The Asian rice gall midge (Orseolia oryzae) is a major pest responsible for immense loss in rice productivity. Currently, very little knowledge exists with regard to this insect at the molecular level. The present study was initiated with the aim of developing molecular resources as well as identifying alterations at the transcriptome level in the gall midge maggots that are in a compatible (SH) or in an incompatible interaction (RH) with their rice host.

Genetic variation within native populations of endemic silkmoth Antheraea assamensis (Helfer) from Northeast India indicates need for in situ conservation.

A. assamensis is a phytophagous Lepidoptera from Northeast India reared on host trees of Lauraceae family for its characteristic cocoon silk. Source of these cocoons are domesticated farm stocks that crash frequently and/or wild insect populations that provide new cultures.

Engineering silkworms for resistance to baculovirus through multigene RNA interference.

Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) that infects the silkworm, B. mori, accounts for >50% of silk cocoon crop losses globally. We speculated that simultaneous targeting of several BmNPV essential genes in transgenic silkworm would elicit a stable defense against the virus.

Genetic diversity and population structure of Indian golden silkmoth (Antheraea assama).

Background: The Indian golden saturniid silkmoth (Antheraea assama), popularly known as muga silkmoth, is a semi-domesticated silk producing insect confined to a narrow habitat range of the northeastern region of India. Owing to the prevailing socio-political problems, the muga silkworm habitats in the northeastern region have not been accessible hampering the phylogeography studies of this rare silkmoth. Recently, we have been successful in our attempt to collect muga cocoon samples, although to a limited extent, from their natural habitats.

Role of sequence encoded κB DNA geometry in gene regulation by Dorsal.

Many proteins of the Rel family can act as both transcriptional activators and repressors. However, mechanism that discerns the 'activator/repressor' functions of Rel-proteins such as Dorsal (Drosophila homologue of mammalian NFκB) is not understood. Using genomic, biophysical and biochemical approaches, we demonstrate that the underlying principle of this functional specificity lies in the 'sequence-encoded structure' of the κB-DNA.

Isolation and characterization of microsatellite loci in the Asian rice gall midge (Orseolia oryzae) (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae).

Microsatellite loci were isolated from the genomic DNA of the Asian rice gall midge, Orseolia oryzae (Wood-Mason) using a hybridization capture approach. A total of 90 non-redundant primer pairs, representing unique loci, were designed. These simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers represented di (72%), tri (15.

Novel female-specific splice form of dsx in the silkworm, Bombyx mori.

The Bombyx mori doublesex (Bmdsx), a homologue of doublesex of Drosophila, is the bottom most gene of the sex determination cascade. Bmdsx plays a very crucial role in somatic sexual development. Its pre-mRNA sex-specifically splices to generate two splice variants; one encodes female-specific and the other encodes male-specific polypeptides which differ only at their C-termini.

KAIKObase: an integrated silkworm genome database and data mining tool.

Background: The silkworm, Bombyx mori, is one of the most economically important insects in many developing countries owing to its large-scale cultivation for silk production. With the development of genomic and biotechnological tools, B. mori has also become an important bioreactor for production of various recombinant proteins of biomedical interest.

InSatDb: a genomic tool for insect geneticists.

Microsatellites show tremendous variation between genomes in terms of their occurrence and composition. Availability of whole genome sequences allows us to study microsatellite characteristics of fully sequenced insect genomes to understand the evolution and biological significance of microsatellites. InSatDb is an insect microsatellite database that provides an interactive interface to query information on microsatellites annotated with size (in base pairs and repeat units), genomic location (exon, intron, up-stream or transposon), nature (perfect or imperfect), and sequence composition (repeat motif and GC%).

Intron loss is associated with gain of function in the evolution of the gloverin family of antibacterial genes in Bombyx mori.

Gene duplication is a characteristic feature of eukaryotic genomes. Here we investigated the role of gene duplication in the evolution of the gloverin family of antibacterial genes (Bmglv1, Bmglv2, Bmglv3, and Bmglv4) in Bombyx mori. We observed the following two significant changes during the first duplication event: (i) loss of intronV, located in the 3'-untranslated region (UTR) of the ancestral gene Bmglv1, and (ii) 12-bp deletion in exon3.