Comparison of Transformation Efficiency of <italic>piggyBac</italic> Transposon among Three Different Silkworm <italic>Bombyx mori</italic> Strains

Abstract

The transformation rate of three different strains of silkworm Bombyx mori was compared after the introduction of enhanced green fluorescence protein (EGFP)-encoding genes into the silkworm eggs by microinjection of a mixture of piggyBac vector and helper plasmid containing a transposase-encoding sequence. Although there were no significant differences among the three strains in the percentages of fertile moths in microinjected eggs (P=0.1258), the percentages of G(0) transformed moths in fertile moths and injected eggs were both significantly different (P=0.01368 and P=0.02398, respectively). The transformation rate of the Nistari strain (Indian strain) was significantly higher than that of the other two strains, Golden-yellow-cocoon (Vietnamese strain) and Jiaqiu (Chinese strain), which had similar rate. These results indicate that the transformation efficiency of the piggyBac-based system might vary with silkworm strains with different genetic backgrounds. The presence of endogenous piggyBac-like elements might be an important factor influencing the transformation efficiency of introduced piggyBac-derived vectors, and the diverse amount and activation in different silkworm strains might account for the significant differences.