Proteomics of Silkworm, Bombyx mori L.: Recent Progress and Future Prospectus

Recent advances in the proteomic analysis of silkworm, Bombyx mori, in different tissues and organs have paved way for better understanding of the regulation of various biological activities. Comparative proteomic analyses have led to the identification of crucial proteins and varied expression during metamorphosis like storage proteins and 30 K proteins from the hemolymph. The identification of tissue specific proteins of silkworm larvae, pupae, and moths has unraveled various metabolic pathways related to metabolism-related disease resistance and susceptibility, molting, spatial and temporal expression of enzymes and activities, mucins, chitin-binding proteins, chitin deacetylases, serpins, serine proteases, etc. Adopting technologies like 2D gel electrophoresis and MALDI-TOF-MS and expression of silk gland specific proteins, developmental stage specific proteins, antimicrobial proteins, and immune related proteins have been identified, which have revolutionized the understanding of complex protein profiles in silkworm. Further, silk fibroin has a number of outstanding properties, not only for textile applications but also for biomaterials. The high tensile strength and toughness is suitable for by-products/biomaterials. B. mori silkworm silk fibroin is the versatile fiber that could be regenerated for utilization in industrial and biomedical applications. Structure-property relationships are among the most important goals in silk industry to understand the basic mechanism of fibroin structure and its interactions as elementary unit influences mechanical properties. These information provide way for exploring genetic markers responsible for silk mechanical properties and thereby develop silkworm breeds with improved production of silk fiber that is equivalent to that of spider silk.