• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.113-120
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• 2009

Embryonic lethal abnormal visual (elav) is a lethal gene in Drosophila inducing the abnormal development and function of nervous system. We cloned a Bm-elav gene by bioinformatics and biological experiment, based on sequence of ELAV protein and dbEST of Bombyx mori. The full-length of Bm-elav cDNA is 1498 bp, contains a 906 bp open read frame (ORF) encoding a precursor of 301 amino acid residues with a calculated molecular weight of 34 kDa and pI of 8.99. Bm-ELAV protein precursor contains three RNA recognition motifs (RRM) in $24{\sim}91$, $110{\sim}177$ and $222{\sim}295$ bit amino acid residues respectively, and belongs to RNA-binding protein family. Bm-ELAV shared varying positives, ranging from 56% to 60% (Identities from 41% to 45%), with RRM from other species of Xenopus tropicalis, Apis mellifera, Tribolium castaneum, Branchiostoma belcheri and Drosophila. Gene localization indicated that Bm-elav is a single-copy gene, gene mapping within 12-chromosome from 7916.68 knt to 7918.16 knt region of nscaf2993. Spatiotemporal expressions pattern analysis revealed that Bm-elav expressed higher in most tested tissues and developmental stages in whole generation, such as silk gland, fat body, midgut, hemopoietic organ and ovary, but almost no expression in terminated diapause eggs. This suggested that the expression of Bm-elav in early developmental embryonic stages might induce abnormal development like in Drosophila. Cloning of the Bm-elav gene enables us to test its potential role in controlling pests by transferring the gene into field lepidopteran insects in the future.