Establishment of tetracycline-inducible gene expression systems in the silkworm, Bombyx mori

Tetracycline-inducible gene expression (Tet-on) system has become one of the first choices for the control of transgenes expression in mammal and drosophila. However, the Tet-on systems that have been established in mammalian system or tuned into drosophila do not function in the silkworm, Bombyx mori. To construct a functional Tet-on system in B. mori, we modified rtTA by introducing a transcription activation domain of immediate-early gene 1 of Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus and nuclear localization signal of SV40 large T-antigen. The modified rtTA can activate the transcription from 9 x tetO promoter in the silkworm cells up to 250-fold in the presence of doxycycline.