TY - JOUR
T1 - The bagworm genome reveals a unique fibroin gene that provides high tensile strength
AU - Kono, Nobuaki
AU - Nakamura, Hiroyuki
AU - Ohtoshi, Rintaro
AU - Tomita, Masaru
AU - Numata, Keiji
AU - Arakawa, Kazuharu
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank Shuhei Niitsu (Tokyo Metropolitan University) for morphological identification of the moth and for providing a photograph of E. variegata as well as Yuki Takai and Nozomi Abe for technical support in the sequencing analysis. This work was funded by the ImPACT Program of Council for Science, Technology and Innovation (Cabinet Office, Government of Japan) and in part by research funds from the Yamagata Prefectural Government and Tsuruoka City, Japan.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, The Author(s).
PY - 2019/12/1
Y1 - 2019/12/1
N2 - Arthropod silk is known as a versatile tool, and its variability makes it an attractive biomaterial. Eumeta variegata is a bagworm moth (Lepidoptera, Psychidae) that uses silk throughout all life stages. Notably, the bagworm-specific uses of silk include larval development in a bag coated with silk and plant materials and the use of silk attachments to hang pupae. An understanding at the molecular level of bagworm silk, which enables such unique purposes, is an opportunity to expand the possibilities for artificial biomaterial design. However, very little is known about the bagworm fibroin gene and the mechanical properties of bagworm silk. Here, we report the bagworm genome, including a silk fibroin gene. The genome is approximately 700 Mbp in size, and the newly found fibroin gene has a unique repetitive motif. Furthermore, a mechanical property test demonstrates a phylogenetic relationship between the unique motif and tensile strength of bagworm silk.
AB - Arthropod silk is known as a versatile tool, and its variability makes it an attractive biomaterial. Eumeta variegata is a bagworm moth (Lepidoptera, Psychidae) that uses silk throughout all life stages. Notably, the bagworm-specific uses of silk include larval development in a bag coated with silk and plant materials and the use of silk attachments to hang pupae. An understanding at the molecular level of bagworm silk, which enables such unique purposes, is an opportunity to expand the possibilities for artificial biomaterial design. However, very little is known about the bagworm fibroin gene and the mechanical properties of bagworm silk. Here, we report the bagworm genome, including a silk fibroin gene. The genome is approximately 700 Mbp in size, and the newly found fibroin gene has a unique repetitive motif. Furthermore, a mechanical property test demonstrates a phylogenetic relationship between the unique motif and tensile strength of bagworm silk.
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U2 - 10.1038/s42003-019-0412-8
DO - 10.1038/s42003-019-0412-8
M3 - Article
C2 - 31925002
AN - SCOPUS:85065174187
SN - 2399-3642
VL - 2
JO - Communications Biology
JF - Communications Biology
IS - 1
M1 - 148
ER -