The promoter of Bmlp3 gene can direct fat body-specific expression in the transgenic silkworm, Bombyx mori

The fat body plays multiple, crucial roles in the life of silkworms. Targeted expression of transgenes in the fat body of the silkworm, Bombyx mori, is important not only for clarifying the function of endogenous genes expressed in this tissue, but also for producing valuable recombinant proteins. However, fat body-specific gene expression remains difficult due to a lack of suitable tissue-specific promoters. Here we report the isolation of the fat body-specific promoter of Bmlp3, a member of the 30K protein family of silkworms. The 1.1 kb fragment from −374 to +738 of Bmlp3 displayed strong promoter activity in the cell lines BmE and Spli-221. In transgenic silkworms, a DsRed reporter gene controlled by the 1.1 kb Bmlp3 promoter fragment was expressed specifically in the fat body in a stage-specific pattern that was nearly identical to the endogenous Bmlp3 gene. We conclude that the 1.1 kb Bmlp3 promoter fragment is sufficient to direct tissue- and stage-specific expression of transgenes in the fat body of silkworms, highlighting the potential use of this promoter for both functional genomics research and biotechnology applications. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11248-013-9705-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.