Cloning, Sequencing and Characterization of Mitochondrial Control Region of the Domestic Silkwom, Bombyx mori

The nucleotide sequence of the domestic silkworm (Bombyx mori) mitochondrial (mt) control region and its flanking genes was determined from PCR clones. The control region of the silkworm mt genome was located between the small ribosomal RNA gene and transfer RN $A^{Met}$. This 499 bp control region hale 95.4% A+T content. Extensive comparative analysis studies performed with similar control region of other insect genomes could not reveal a highly conserved region containing conserved motifs of animal mito-chondrial genome. The remarkable feature that found in this control region was the presence of tandem motifs containing nine repetitive sequences. The potential usefulness of this motif sequences for Bombyx species or their taxonomically related species is enhanced by its unique localization in the maternally inheritance mitochondrial molecule.e.