Identification and Expression Analysis of Two CPFL Genes in Silkworm(Bombyx mori)
CPFL cuticular proteins of insect are a kind of important structural proteins.Two CPFL genes designated as BmHCP1 and BmHCP2 were identified from the silkworm genome using bioinformatics method in this study.The amino acid sequence alignment indicated that both the two proteins contained the conserved structural sequences YGW and repetitive sequences AAH,AAPA and AAPV of CPFL proteins at the carboxyl terminal.The phylogenetic tree analysis showed that the two CPFL proteins had high homology with lepidoptera insect Heliconius erato and Papilio xuthus.Real-time PCR detection results indicated that BmHCP1 and BmH-CP2 were diversely expressed in different tissues.Their expression levels were higher in head,midgut and cu-ticular during silkworm larval phase;except wing primordium,hemolymph,antennae and feet,higher expres-sion was observed in all tissues during pupal stage;their expression levels were higher in wing primordium,epidermis,feet and antennae of silkworm moth.The expression levels of the two CPFL genes in most tissues were significantly higher at pupal stage than those at larval and adult stages.These results could lay a founda-tion for further exploring the function of the cuticular proteins in silkworm.