The transcription factor Broad-Complex (BR-C) is required for differentiation of adult structures as well as for the programmed death of obsolete larval organs during metamorphosis of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Whether BR-C has a similar role in other holometabolous insects could not be proven without a loss-of-function genetic test, performed in a non-drosophilid species. Here we use a recombinant Sindbis virus as a tool to silence BR-C expression in the silkmoth Bombyx mori. The virus expressing a BR-C antisense RNA fragment reduced endogenous BR-C mRNA levels in infected tissues (adult wing and leg primordia) via RNA interference (RNAi). The RNAi knock-down of BR-C resulted in the failure of animals to complete the larval-pupal transition or in later morphogenetic defects, including differentiation of adult compound eyes, legs, and wings from their larval progenitors. BR-C RNAi also perturbed the programmed cell death of larval silk glands. These developmental defects correspond to loss-of-function phenotypes of BR-C Drosophila mutants in both the morphogenetic and degenerative aspects, suggesting that the critical role of BR-C in metamorphosis is evolutionarily conserved. We also demonstrate that the Sindbis virus is a useful vehicle for silencing of developmental genes in new insect models.

Department of Molecular Biology University of South Bohemia and Institute of Entomology the Czech Academy of Sciences Ceske Budejovice 37005 Czech Republic

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Where did the pupa come from? The timing of juvenile hormone signalling supports homology between stages of hemimetabolous and holometabolous insects

Common and distinct roles of juvenile hormone signaling genes in metamorphosis of holometabolous and hemimetabolous insects

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