STUDIES ON THE HAEMOLYMPH PROTEIN PROFILES OF THE SILKWORM BOMBYX MORI UNDER INDUCED THERMAL STRESS

A simple method was used to study the thermal response in two highly productive bivoltine breeds, CSR 18 (tolerant to high temperature) and CSR 2 (non-tolerant) with the objective to identify the temperature and duration required to induce HSP and type of HSP family induced under thermal stress. The selected breeds were subjected to different intervals of 36°C and 40°C temperature for 3 consecutive days from 3rd day of V instar larvae. Haemolymph samples from the control and treated larvae were collected and subjected to 10% SDS-PAGE analysis after quantification. The study has given an indication that the protein in the range of 68-97kDA size may possibly have a role in thermal tolerance. It is obvious that the HSP induction or thermal response manifested by increase in the quantity of protein is comparatively earlier in CSR18 than CSR2 and might have lead CSR18 breed tolerant to high temperature.