In homeopathic medicine, the sun-dried bodies of B. mori are believed to stop convulsions due to epilepsy or fever, cure rubella and itching, help the spleen and treat wind/heat stroke (Monograph 1997).
The silk gland of B. mori is 1/4 the total body weight.
The first person to breed B. mori for silk was the Chinese empress, Si Ling-chi. Only the empress and her female attendants knew how to get the silk, and the punishment for revealing the secret was death (Knowledge Adventure 1997).
Bombyx mori is currently not an endangered or threatened species; however, many animal rights activist groups object to their use in sericulture. One of the main things the activists are offended by is the silk industry's practice of boiling cocoons with living pupae inside in order to get the silk (envirolink 1997).
In 1989, 74 thousand tons of silk were produced (Lepidoptera Part 2 1997). Even with each cocoon yeilding one half mile of fibers, that is an astounding amount of silk (The Animal World 1990). Bombyx mori is an incredibly important species to humans because we rely on their silk for our textile and clothing industries. For many years, China had a monopoly on the benifits of this industrious animal. In fact, Bombyx mori are one of the few animals that carried the death penalty as a punishment for smuggling them out of their native country (Lepidoptera Part 2 1997).
Bombyx mori are quite important animals in the science world as well. They are used in Australia for educational purposes in schools (Herbison-Evans 1997). Scientists in the field of sericulture are working on mapping their genes in hopes of improving the quality of the world's silk and expanding our knowledge of genetics in general. Bombyx mori were the animals in which pheromones were first discovered and named (Pines 1997).
Bombyx mori are herbivores. They feed specifically on white mulberry leaves, but also eat Osage oranges and lettuce. They do most of their eating in the larval stage (Encarta 1998). The larvae have mandibles for feeding, while the adults have sucking mouth parts (Lepidoptera Part 2 1997). Because they have been cultivated for so long for sericulture (the silk industry), B. mori have lost an adaptation helpful to feeding in the wild. The larvae can no longer hang on plants at gravity-defying angles, and must be fed by humans (Herbison-Evans 1997).
Bombyx mori originally existed in the wild throughout Asia. Though they are believed to no longer exist in the wild, they are in the care of the silk industry in Asia and Australia (Savela 1998).
Biogeographic Regions: oriental (Native ); australian (Native )
Although B. mori is native to China, it does not live in the wild any longer because of sericulture (Encarta 1998).
Terrestrial Biomes: forest
The larvae of B. mori are caterpillars that are about 4 cm long, including their horned tail. They are buff-colored with brown thoracic markings. The adults are moths with a 4 cm wingspan. They are also buff-colored, but have thin brown lines on their whole bodies (Herbison-Evans 1997). Another silkworm, Bombyx mandarina, appears to be a wild race of B. mori (Savela 1998).
Other Physical Features: ectothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Bombyx mori are holometabolous and reproduce sexually. The female adult dies upon depositing her eggs (Encarta 1998). These eggs weigh in at a miniscule 1/30,000 of an ounce each (Knowledge Adventure 1997). After 10 days, the eggs hatch and hungry larvae emerge. They are segmented and have body hair. The larvae eat and grow for approximately 6 weeks, and then they begin the next stage of their lives. Bombyx mori produce a fluid in their silk glands that is forces through spinnerets on their mouths. This fluid hardens in the air to produce the silk thread that they will wrap around themselves to form their cocoons. Bombyx mori spend 2 weeks as pupae in the safety of their cocoons before emerging as adults (Encarta 1998). Inside the cocoon, much of their bodies die by an attack of their own digestive juices. This process, histolysis, clears away the old parts to make way for the new ones that will develop in this pupal state. After this process is completed, the adults break free from the cocoon in order to begin the cycle again. The adults are winged and have traded body hair for scales. They are dramatically different form their larval stage (Lepidoptera Part 2 1997).
The domestic silk moth (Bombyx mori - 'Mulberry Silkworm') is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of Bombyx mandarina, the wild silk moth. The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of a silk moth. It is an economically important insect, being a primary producer of silk. A silkworm's preferred food are white mulberry leaves, though they may eat other mulberry species and even the osage orange. Domestic silk moths are entirely dependent on humans for reproduction, as a result of millennia of selective breeding. Wild silk moths (other species of Bombyx) are not as commercially viable in the production of silk.
Sericulture, the practice of breeding silkworms for the production of raw silk, has been under way for at least 5,000 years in China,[1] whence it spread to India, Korea, Nepal, Japan, and the West. The domestic silk moth was domesticated from the wild silk moth Bombyx mandarina, which has a range from northern India to northern China, Korea, Japan, and the far eastern regions of Russia. The domestic silk moth derives from Chinese rather than Japanese or Korean stock.[2][3]
Silk moths were unlikely to have been domestically bred before the Neolithic Age. Before then, the tools to manufacture quantities of silk thread had not been developed. The domesticated B. mori and the wild B. mandarina can still breed and sometimes produce hybrids.[4]: 342
Domestic silk moths are very different from most members in the genus Bombyx; not only have they lost the ability to fly, but their color pigments have also been lost.[5]
Mulberry silkworms can be divided into three major categories based on seasonal brood frequency. Univoltine silkworms produce only one brood a season, and they are generally found in and around Europe. Univoltine eggs must hibernate through the winter, ultimately cross-fertilizing in spring. Bivoltine varieties are normally found in East Asia, and their accelerated breeding process is made possible by slightly warmer climates. In addition, there are polyvoltine silkworms, only found in the tropics. Their eggs typically hatch within 9 to 12 days, meaning there can be up to eight generations of larvae throughout the year.[6]
Eggs take about 14 days to hatch into larvae, which eat continuously. They have a preference for white mulberry, having an attraction to the mulberry odorant cis-jasmone. They are not monophagous, since they can eat other species of Morus, as well as some other Moraceae, mostly Osage orange. They are covered with tiny black hairs. When the color of their heads turns darker, it indicates they are about to molt. After molting, the larval phase of the silkworms emerge white, naked, and with little horns on their backs.
After they have molted four times, their bodies become slightly yellow, and the skin becomes tighter. The larvae then prepare to enter the pupal phase of their lifecycle, and enclose themselves in a cocoon made up of raw silk produced by the salivary glands. The final molt from larva to pupa takes place within the cocoon, which provides a layer of protection during the vulnerable, almost motionless pupal state. Many other Lepidoptera produce cocoons, but only a few—the Bombycidae, in particular the genus Bombyx, and the Saturniidae, in particular the genus Antheraea—have been exploited for fabric production.
The cocoon is made of a thread of raw silk from 300 to about 900 m (1,000 to 3,000 ft) long. The fibers are very fine and lustrous, about 10 μm (0.0004 in) in diameter. About 2,000 to 3,000 cocoons are required to make 1 pound of silk (0.4 kg). At least 70 million pounds (32 million kg) of raw silk are produced each year, requiring nearly 10 billion cocoons.[7]
If the animal survives through the pupal phase of its lifecycle, it releases proteolytic enzymes to make a hole in the cocoon so it can emerge as an adult moth. These enzymes are destructive to the silk and can cause the silk fibers to break down from over a mile in length to segments of random length, which reduces the value of the silk threads, although these damaged silk cocoons are still used as "stuffing" available in China and elsewhere for doonas, jackets, etc. To prevent this, silkworm cocoons are boiled in water. The heat kills the silkworms and the water makes the cocoons easier to unravel. Often, the silkworm itself is eaten.
As the process of harvesting the silk from the cocoon kills the larva, sericulture has been criticized by animal welfare and rights activists. Mahatma Gandhi was critical of silk production based on the ahimsa philosophy "not to hurt any living thing". This led to Gandhi's promotion of cotton spinning machines, an example of which can be seen at the Gandhi Institute,[8] and an extension of this principle has led to the modern production practice known as Ahimsa silk, which is wild silk (from wild and semiwild silk moths) made from the cocoons of moths that are allowed to emerge before the silk is harvested.
The moth is the adult phase of the silk worm's lifecycle. Silk moths have a wingspan of 3–5 cm (1.2–2.0 in) and a white, hairy body. Females are about two to three times bulkier than males (due to carrying many eggs). All adult Bombycidae moths have reduced mouthparts and do not feed.
The wings of the silk moth develop from larval imaginal disks.[9] The moth is not capable of functional flight, in contrast to the wild B. mandarina and other Bombyx species, whose males fly to meet females. Some may emerge with the ability to lift off and stay airborne, but sustained flight cannot be achieved as their bodies are too big and heavy for their small wings.
The legs of the silk moth develop from the silkworm's larval (thoracic) legs. Developmental genes like Distalless and extradenticle have been used to mark leg development. In addition, removing specific segments of the thoracic legs at different ages of the larva resulted in the adult silk moth not developing the corresponding adult leg segments.[9]
Due to its small size and ease of culture, the silkworm has become a model organism in the study of lepidopteran and general arthropod biology. Fundamental findings on pheromones, hormones, brain structures, and physiology have been made with the silkworm. One example of this was the molecular identification of the first known pheromone, bombykol, which required extracts from 500,000 individuals, due to the very small quantities of pheromone produced by any individual silkworm.
Many research works have focused on the genetics of silkworms and the possibility of genetic engineering. Many hundreds of strains are maintained, and over 400 Mendelian mutations have been described.[10] Another source suggests 1,000 inbred domesticated strains are kept worldwide.[11] One useful development for the silk industry is silkworms that can feed on food other than mulberry leaves, including an artificial diet.[10] Research on the genome also raises the possibility of genetically engineering silkworms to produce proteins, including pharmacological drugs, in the place of silk proteins. Bombyx mori females are also one of the few organisms with homologous chromosomes held together only by the synaptonemal complex (and not crossovers) during meiosis.[12]
Kraig Biocraft Laboratories[13] has used research from the Universities of Wyoming and Notre Dame in a collaborative effort to create a silkworm that is genetically altered to produce spider silk. In September 2010, the effort was announced as successful.[14]
Researchers at Tufts developed scaffolds made of spongy silk that feel and look similar to human tissue. They are implanted during reconstructive surgery to support or restructure damaged ligaments, tendons, and other tissue. They also created implants made of silk and drug compounds which can be implanted under the skin for steady and gradual time release of medications.[15]
Researchers at the MIT Media Lab experimented with silkworms to see what they would weave when left on surfaces with different curvatures. They found that on particularly straight webs of lines, the silkworms would connect neighboring lines with silk, weaving directly onto the given shape. Using this knowledge they built a silk pavilion with 6,500 silkworms over a number of days.
Silkworms have been used in antibiotics discovery, as they have several advantageous traits compared to other invertebrate models.[16] Antibiotics such as lysocin E,[17] a non-ribosomal peptide synthesized by Lysobacter sp. RH2180-5[18] and GPI0363[19] are among the notable antibiotics discovered using silkworms. In addition, antibiotics with appropriate pharmacokinetic parameters were selected that correlated with therapeutic activity in the silkworm infection model.[20]
Silkworms have also been used for the identification of novel virulence factors of pathogenic microorganisms. A first large-scale screening using transposon mutant library of Staphylococcus aureus USA300 strain was performed which identified 8 new genes with roles in full virulence of S. aureus.[21] Another study by the same team of researchers revealed, for the first time, the role of YjbH in virulence and oxidative stress tolerance in vivo.[22]
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The domestic species B. mori, compared to the wild species (e.g., B. mandarina), has increased cocoon size, body size, growth rate, and efficiency of its digestion. It has gained tolerance to human presence and handling, and also to living in crowded conditions. The domestic silk moths cannot fly, so the males need human assistance in finding a mate, and it lacks fear of potential predators. The native color pigments have also been lost, so the domestic silk moths are leucistic, since camouflage is not useful when they only live in captivity. These changes have made B. mori entirely dependent upon humans for survival, and it does not exist in the wild.[23] The eggs are kept in incubators to aid in their hatching.
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Silkworms were first domesticated in China more than 5,000 years ago.[24][25] Silkworms have since been crossbred to include silk production proteins from spiders to produce silk that is stronger and more elastic.[26] Since then, the silk production capacity of the species has increased nearly tenfold. The silkworm is one of the few organisms wherein the principles of genetics and breeding were applied to harvest maximum output. It is second only to maize in exploiting the principles of heterosis and crossbreeding.
Silkworm breeding is aimed at the overall improvement of silkworms from a commercial point of view. The major objectives are improving fecundity (the egg-laying capacity of a breed), the health of larvae, quantity of cocoon and silk production, and disease resistance. Healthy larvae lead to a healthy cocoon crop. Health is dependent on factors such as better pupation rate, fewer dead larvae in the mountage,[27] shorter larval duration (this lessens the chance of infection) and bluish-tinged fifth-instar larvae (which are healthier than the reddish-brown ones). Quantity of cocoon and silk produced are directly related to the pupation rate and larval weight. Healthier larvae have greater pupation rates and cocoon weights. Quality of cocoon and silk depends on a number of factors, including genetics.
In the U.S., teachers may sometimes introduce the insect life cycle to their students by raising domestic silk moths in the classroom as a science project. Students have a chance to observe complete life cycles of insects from eggs to larvae to pupae to moths.
The domestic silk moth has been raised as a hobby in countries such as China, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Iran. Children often pass on the eggs to the next generation, creating a non-commercial population. The experience provides children with the opportunity to witness the life cycle of silk moths. The practice of raising silk moths by children as pets has, in non-silk farming South Africa, led to the development of extremely hardy landraces of silk moths, because they are invariably subjected to hardships not encountered by commercially farmed members of the species.[28] However, these worms, not being selectively bred as such, are possibly inferior in silk production and may exhibit other undesirable traits.
The full genome of the domestic silk moth was published in 2008 by the International Silkworm Genome Consortium.[11] Draft sequences were published in 2004.[29][30]
The genome of the domestic silk moth is mid-range with a genome size around 432 megabase pairs (432 million base pairs). A notable feature is that 43.6% of the genome are repetitive sequences, most of which are transposable elements. At least 3,000 silkworm genes are unique, and have no homologous equivalents in other genomes. The silkworm's ability to produce large amounts of silk correlates with the presence of specific tRNA clusters, as well as some clustered sericin genes. Additionally, the silkworm's ability to consume toxic mulberry leaves is linked to specialized sucrase genes, which appear to have been acquired from bacterial genes.[11]
High genetic variability has been found in domestic lines of silk moths, though this is less than that among wild silk moths (about 83 percent of wild genetic variation). This suggests a single event of domestication, and that it happened over a short period of time, with a large number of wild silkworms having been collected for domestication.[31] Major questions, however, remain unanswered, according to Jun Wang, co-author of a related study published in 2008,[32] who stated: "Whether this event was in a single location or in a short period of time in several locations cannot be deciphered from the data",[33] and research also has yet to identify the area in China where domestication arose.
Silk moth pupae are edible insects and are eaten in some cultures:
Silkworms have also been proposed for cultivation by astronauts as space food on long-term missions.[36]
In China, a legend indicates the discovery of the silkworm's silk was by an ancient empress named Leizu, the wife of the Yellow Emperor, also known as Xi Lingshi. She was drinking tea under a tree when a silk cocoon fell into her tea. As she picked it out and started to wrap the silk thread around her finger, she slowly felt a warm sensation. When the silk ran out, she saw a small larva. In an instant, she realized this caterpillar larva was the source of the silk. She taught this to the people and it became widespread. Many more legends about the silkworm are told.
The Chinese guarded their knowledge of silk, but, according to one story, a Chinese princess given in marriage to a Khotan prince brought to the oasis the secret of silk manufacture, "hiding silkworms in her hair as part of her dowry", probably in the first half of the first century AD.[37] About AD 550, Christian monks are said to have smuggled silkworms, in a hollow stick, out of China and sold the secret to the Byzantine Empire.
According to a Vietnamese folk tale, silkworms were originally a beautiful housemaid running away from her gruesome masters and living in the mountain, where she was protected by the mountain god. One day, a lecherous god from the heaven came down to Earth to seduce women. When he saw her, he tried to rape her but she was able to escape and was hidden by the mountain god. The lecherous god then tried to find and capture her by setting a net trap around the mountain. With the blessing of Guanyin, the girl was able to safely swallow that net into her stomach. Finally, the evil god summons his fellow thunder and rain gods to attack and burn away her clothes, forcing her to hide in a cave. Naked and cold, she spit out the net and used it as a blanket to sleep. The girl died in her sleep, and as she wished to continue to help other people, her soul turned into silkworms.
Bombyx mori is essentially monophagous, exclusively eating mulberry leaves (Morus spp.). By developing techniques for using artificial diets, the amino acids needed for development are known.[38] The various amino acids can be classified into five categories:
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{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) The domestic silk moth (Bombyx mori - 'Mulberry Silkworm') is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of Bombyx mandarina, the wild silk moth. The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of a silk moth. It is an economically important insect, being a primary producer of silk. A silkworm's preferred food are white mulberry leaves, though they may eat other mulberry species and even the osage orange. Domestic silk moths are entirely dependent on humans for reproduction, as a result of millennia of selective breeding. Wild silk moths (other species of Bombyx) are not as commercially viable in the production of silk.
Sericulture, the practice of breeding silkworms for the production of raw silk, has been under way for at least 5,000 years in China, whence it spread to India, Korea, Nepal, Japan, and the West. The domestic silk moth was domesticated from the wild silk moth Bombyx mandarina, which has a range from northern India to northern China, Korea, Japan, and the far eastern regions of Russia. The domestic silk moth derives from Chinese rather than Japanese or Korean stock.
Silk moths were unlikely to have been domestically bred before the Neolithic Age. Before then, the tools to manufacture quantities of silk thread had not been developed. The domesticated B. mori and the wild B. mandarina can still breed and sometimes produce hybrids.: 342
Domestic silk moths are very different from most members in the genus Bombyx; not only have they lost the ability to fly, but their color pigments have also been lost.
