A Closer Look at Silkworms

The first section of this book covers recent research developments on the silkworm, B. mori. Chapter One describes the recent advancements in utilization, product diversification and value addition of ericulture resources for the sustainability of farmers. Chapter Two compares the efficacy of silk production and how it is achieved through the growth and development of silkworms supplemented with antioxidants and exposed to low dose radiation from the gamma source. B. mori viral disease and lipid compositional changes during the spinning stage is the focus in the next two chapters. In Chapter Three, Tanmaya et al. review the characteristics of B. mori viruses, the classification of viral infections, mode of infectivity, transmission, symptomatology of viral diseases, detection of pathogenic viruses, the molecular mechanism of pathogenicity of viral diseases and insect antiviral defense mechanisms. Management practices can be carried out both at pre-rearing and rearing conditions for obtaining and improving qualitative and quantitative silk production. Chapter Four analyzes the neutral lipids changes in silk glands during fifth instar larvae and spinning stages of B. mori. Chapter Five, by Geeta Pandey, is an outline of the historical perception of silk, its structure, general characteristics, current clinical trials and emerging biomedical applications of silk fibroin along with future prospects and challenges in this field. The authors of Chapter Six discuss the recent advancements in B. mori lipid metabolism, transportation, and lipid carrier proteins. This book ends with Chapter Seven - a review of silk proteins such as sericin and fibroin and their medical applications.