Carbohydrate biosynthesis pathway is associated with lineage-specific diapause termination in the silkworm, Bombyx...

Diapause is a crucial biological adaptation that enables many insects to endure unfavourable environmental conditions and maintain species survival. The silkworm, Bombyx mori, a classic model organism exhibiting embryonic diapause, provides an excellent system for investigating diapause mechanisms. In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of electrical stimulation in terminating diapause and explored its underlying regulatory mechanisms during the termination process in silkworms. Specifically, electrical stimulation significantly improved the economic traits of silkworms compared to HCl treatment. Transcriptome sequencing was performed to analyse dynamic gene regulation during diapause termination following electrical stimulation in two silkworm strains: the Chinese lineage strain Qiufeng and the Japanese lineage strain Baiyu. Gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) revealed, for the first time, that the mechanism of diapause termination in silkworms is lineage-specific. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) further indicated that this lineage-specific diapause release is primarily driven by the differential expression of genes involved in the carbohydrate biosynthesis pathway. These findings both validate the practical application of electrical stimulation in sericulture and reveal fundamental differences in diapause regulation between silkworm lineages, advancing our understanding of this crucial biological process.