5'-Nucleotidase Plays a Key Role in Uric Acid Metabolism of Bombyx mori.

ABSTRACT: Uric acid (UA) is the end-product in the human purine metabolism pathway. The UA that accumulates in silkworm tissues is excreted as a nitrogen waste product. Here, we first validated that Bombyx mori has a homolog of the human gene that encodes the 5'-nucleotidase (5'N) involved in purine metabolism. The B. mori gene, Bm5'N, is located upstream of other genes involved in UA metabolism in the silkworm. Disruption of Bm5'N via the CRISPR/Cas9 system resulted in decreased UA levels in the silkworm epidermis and caused a translucent skin phenotype. When Bm5'N mutant silkworms were fed with the uric acid precursor inosine, the UA levels in the epidermis increased significantly. Furthermore, the metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses of Bm5'N mutants i

SUBMITTER: Tang L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8468349 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature