The bagworm genome reveals a unique fibroin gene that provides high tensile strength.
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.
['Kono|Nobuaki|N|0000-0001-5960-7956', 'Nakamura|Hiroyuki|H|', 'Ohtoshi|Rintaro|R|', 'Tomita|Masaru|M|', 'Numata|Keiji|K|0000-0003-2199-7420', 'Arakawa|Kazuharu|K|0000-0002-2893-4919']
D000818:Animals D001672:Biocompatible Materials D005349:Fibroins D007564:Japan D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning D009036:Moths D010802:Phylogeny D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid D053838:Scattering, Small Angle D013718:Tensile Strength D059467:Transcriptome D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
Biomaterials Comparative genomics Evolutionary ecology