{"doi":"10.1111/imb.12797","title":"<i>Allele‐specific</i> knockouts reveal a role for <i>apontic‐like</i> in the evolutionary loss of larval melanin pigmentation in the domesticated silkworm, <i>Bombyx mori</i>","abstract":"Abstract The domesticated silkworm, Bombyx mori , and its wild progenitor, B. mandarina , are extensively studied as a model case of the evolutionary process of domestication. A conspicuous difference between these species is the dramatic reduction in melanin pigmentation in both larval and adult B. mori . Here we evaluate the efficiency of CRISPR/Cas9‐targeted knockouts of pigment‐related genes as a tool to understand their potential contributions to domestication‐associated melanin pigmentation loss in B. mori . To demonstrate the efficacy of targeted knockouts in B. mandarina , we generated a homozygous CRISPR/Cas9‐targeted knockout of yellow‐y. In yellow‐y knockout mutants, black body colour became lighter throughout the larval, pupal and adult stages, confirming a role for this gene in melanin pigment formation. Further, we performed allele‐specific CRISPR/Cas9‐targeted knockouts of the pigment‐related transcription factor, apontic‐like ( apt‐like ) in B. mori × B. mandarina F 1 hybrid individuals which exhibit B. mandarina ‐like larval pigmentation. Knockout of the B. mandarina allele of apt‐like in F 1 embryos results in white patches on the dorsal integument of larvae, whereas corresponding knockouts of the B. mori allele consistently exhibit normal F 1 larval pigmentation. These results demonstrate a contribution of apt‐like to the evolution of reduced melanin pigmentation in B. mori . Together, our results demonstrate the feasibility of CRISPR/Cas9‐targeted knockouts as a tool for understanding the genetic basis of traits associated with B. mori domestication .","journal":"Insect Molecular Biology","year":2022,"id":266576,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":9,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9589,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2022-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":260555,"name":"Peter Andolfatto","orcid":"0000-0003-3393-4574","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":749696,"name":"Takashi Kiuchi","orcid":"0000-0003-3616-1650","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":926709,"name":"Kenta Tomihara","orcid":"0000-0001-7067-7146","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":50,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T00:26:58.102271Z","pmid":"35752945","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}