Mutations in the GDAP2 gene cause silkworms to become smaller

GDAP2 plays an important role in biological development and can maintain the stability of the nervous system. Mutations in GDAP2 have been reported to cause cerebellar ataxia. However, the role of GDAP2 in silkworms is poorly understood. We used gene editing technology to knock out BmGDAP2 for analysis. The deletion of BmGDAP2 leads to a longer growth time and smaller body size of silkworm larval stage. Transcriptomic analysis showed that the significantly differentially expressed genes were mainly enriched in structural molecular activity, catalytic and binding activity. The down-regulation of E74, MAD2L1 and AURKA genes affected DNA replication, and these results showed that BmGDAP2 had an important impact on the development of silkworms.