Corona or hydrochloric acid modulates embryonic diapause in silkworms by activating different signaling pathways

To adapt to environmental changes, diapausing silkworm eggs remain dormant during the early stages of embryonic development. Various methods have been used to terminate silkworm egg diapause and promote egg hatching.

To elucidate the molecular mechanisms by which corona and other treatments terminate silkworm egg diapause, we collected eggs at 1, 6, and 20 h after treatments and sequenced their transcriptomes.

The results showed that both corona and hydrochloric acid (HCl) treatments effectively terminated diapause and promoted egg hatching, with corona treatment inducing faster hatching than HCl treatment. Differentially expressed gene (DEG) analysis revealed the presence of fewer DEGs at 1 h, with a marked increase observed at 6 and 20 h post treatment. Functional enrichment analysis showed that the FoxO signaling pathway was activated at 6 h, with more substantial gene expression changes observed after corona treatment. In addition, HCl treatment appeared to activate the heat shock protein and hormone-regulated pathways. Our study results provide a basis for further analysis of the molecular mechanisms underlying diapause termination in silkworm eggs.