Abd-B suppresses lepidopteran proleg development in posterior abdomen.

Pterygotes lack abdominal appendages except for pleuropods and prolegs. The larvae of some holometabolous insects develop prolegs, which are used for locomotion. We analyzed the role of the homeotic genes abd-A and Abd-B in lepidopteran proleg development using mutant analysis and embryonic in the silkworm Bombyx mori. The E(Mu) mutant developed extra prolegs in its posterior abdomen and showed the misexpression of both genes, suggesting their involvement in proleg formation. The depletion of Abd-B by embryonic duanyu1615 caused the development of extra prolegs on all segments posterior to A6, indicating the suppressive function of Abd-B. The abd-A duanyu1615 animals failed to develop prolegs. These results indicate that abd-A and Abd-B are involved in proleg development in B. mori.

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