Consencus genome constructed from resequencing, called variant sites, and gene finding results for the Silkworm Strain Guican No.5

Silkworms are traditionally raised on mulberry leaves, but modern silk production increasingly uses artificial diets - manufactured food that replaces natural leaves. This shift helps overcome limitations like seasonal availability of mulberry leaves and allows year-round silk production. However, we don't fully understand how silkworms adapt to these artificial diets at the genetic level. Our study examined a special silkworm strain called Guican No.5, which grows well on artificial diet, to uncover the genetic changes that allow this adaptation. By analyzing its complete genetic material, we discovered millions of genetic variations and hundreds new genes that weren't previously known in silkworms. Many of these new genes help in digesting artificial diet components and dealing with potentially harmful substances in the diet. We found that some of these genes came from wild silkworms but changed over time to handle artificial diet better, while others appear to be completely new. Also, we were able to identify new detoxification genes which shares low similarity with known proteins. These findings help us understand how insects adapt to new food sources and can guide the development of better artificial diets for silkworms, ultimately supporting more sustainable silk production methods that don't depend on mulberry cultivation.