Cloning, expression feature, and tissue location of BmSCRBQ1, a class b scavenger receptor in bombyx mori (L.)

Abstract

Class B scavenger receptors can combine with various kinds of ligands and are involved in lipid metabolism. They play an important role in a series of physiological processes, such as atherosclerosis formation or inhibition, congenital immune defense, apoptotic cell clearance, carotenoid transport, and pheromone transduction. In this study, based on a whole-genome database of the silkworm (Bombyx mori (L.)), the full-length CDS of BmSCRBQ1, a class B scavenger receptor gene, was cloned. BmSCRBQ1 consists of 10 exons and 9 introns, with an open reading frame of 1,482 bp encoding 493 amino acids. BmSCRBQ1 mRNA and protein were expressed in most tissues of larval B. mori strain Dazao and the silkworm cell lines BmN and BmE, suggesting that BmSCRBQ1 may have certain ubiquitous functions. Immunohistochemical staining showed that BmSCRBQ1 protein is located in the constitutive membranes or cell membranes of the testes, ovaries, fat body, blood cells, and the middle silk gland of larval B. mori Dazao, indicating that its function could be related to lipid metabolism; the binding, transport, and phagocytosis of exogenous materials; and signal transduction in these tissue types. © 2013 Entomological Society of America.