Data from: The evolutionary road from wild moth to domestic silkworm

The Silk Road, which derives its name from the trade of silk produced by
the domestic silkworm Bombyx mori, was an important episode in the
development and interaction of human civilizations. However, the detailed
history behind silkworm domestication remains ambiguous, and little is
known about the underlying genetics with respect to important aspects of
its domestication. Here, we reconstruct the domestication processes and
identify selective sweeps by sequencing 137 representative silkworm
strains. The results present an evolutionary scenario in which silkworms
may have been initially domesticated in China as trimoulting lines, then
subjected to independent spreads along the Silk Road that gave rise to the
development of most local strains, and further improved for modern silk
production in Japan and China, having descended from diverse ancestral
sources. We find that genes with key roles in nitrogen and amino acid
metabolism may have contributed to the promotion of silk production, and
that circadian-related genes are generally selected for their adaptation.
We additionally identify associations between several candidate genes and
important breeding traits, thereby advancing the applicable value of our
resources.