Transcriptomic analysis of strain-specific and gender-specific response of silkworm to BmNPV infection

Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) is one of the main pathogens causing serious economic losses in sericulture. However, the molecular mechanism of silkworm resistance to BmNPV is still largely unclear, and the differences in the anti-BmNPV response between silkworms of different genders have been rarely studied. In this study, BmNPV resistant strain NB and BmNPV sensitive strain 306 of different genders were used as experimental materials to inoculate BmNPV, and their transcriptomes were sequenced to analyze their response to BmNPV. Eighteen genes specifically differentially expressed in NB after BmNPV inoculation were finally obtained through transcriptomic analysis, fourteen of which were up-regulated and four were down-regulated, suggesting that they might be related to BmNPV resistance. Among them, the expression abundance of eight genes were higher in males than in females, and one gene was in the contrary. These genes suggested that there were certain differences in the anti-BmNPV response between silkworms of different genders. This study provided a new understanding of the molecular mechanism of silkworm resistance to BmNPV and the differences in the anti-BmNPV response between silkworms of different genders, and laid a foundation for future prevention and control of BmNPV.