Transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis of sucrose response to feeding by silkworm, Bombyx mori

As an important economic insect for silk production, the oligophagous nature of the silkworm (Bombyx mori) has led to limitations in its cultivation. We discovered that the addition of sucrose to mulberry leaves promotes the development of silkworms, and we conducted further research on this. We analyzed the effects of sucrose solutions at various concentrations on the development of silkworms and found that a 12% concentration yielded the best results. We performed transcriptomic and metabolomic studies on the 12% concentration treatment group and the control group, identifying a total of 1914 DEGs and 167 differential metabolites. A comprehensive analysis indicated that the carbon metabolism, mTOR metabolism, and FoxO metabolism pathways were enriched with the most differential metabolites, and the DEGs in these pathways were significantly upregulated. This study provides new insights into the response mechanisms of sucrose on the development of silkworms.