An Expanded Survey of the Moth PBP/GOBP Clade in Bombyx mori: New Insight into Expression and Functional Roles

We studied the expression profile and ontogeny (from the egg stage through the larval stages and pupal stages, to the elderly adult age) of four OBPs from the silkworm moth Bombyx mori. We first showed that male responsiveness to female sex pheromone in the silkworm moth B. mori does not depend on age variation; whereas the expression of BmorPBP1, BmorPBP2, BmorGOBP1, and BmorGOBP2 varies with age. The expression profile analysis revealed that the studied OBPs are expressed in non-olfactory tissues at different developmental stages. In addition, we tested the effect of insecticide exposure on the expression of the four OBPs studied. Exposure to a toxic macrolide insecticide endectocide molecule (abamectin) led to the modulated expression of all four genes in different tissues. The higher expression of OBPs was detected in metabolic tissues, such as the thorax, gut, and fat body. All these data strongly suggest some alternative functions for these proteins other than olfaction. Finally, we carried out ligand docking studies and reported that PBP1 and GOBP2 have the capacity of binding vitamin K1 and multiple different vitamins.