Genome-wide analysis of cytochrome P450 monooxygenase genes in the silkworm, Bombyx mori

Based on the advances in the silkworm genome project, a new genome-wide analysis of cytochrome P450 genes was performed. A total of 84 CYP-related sequences were identified and could be classified into 26 families and 47 subfamilies according to standard nomenclature. Seventy eight of the eighty four genes appear to be functional and six are probable pseudogenes. The distribution of Bombyx mori P450s in the genome shows that most of them are tandem arranged on chromosomes, only 34 genes are present as singletons, with 8 clusters including 3 or more than 3 genes. Sequence alignments were used to reconstruct phylogenetic trees and to analyze the intron-exon organizations of the functional genes. The conserved intron positioning agrees perfectly with their common grouping on the tree. The presence of three extremely ancient introns which are conserved across different clans indicates that a few introns are still highly conserved after they have undergone extensive evolutionary changes of B. mori P450 duplication and divergence. Comparison of the P450s from B. mori to the P450s from Drosophila melanogaster shows that the expansion is not uniform across the gene families. Remarkably, two mitochondrial families, the B. mori CYP333 and D. melanogaster Cyp12, formed two orthologous groups in the phylogenetic tree. All CYP333s can be proposed to be related to xenobiotic metabolism in accordance with the D. melanogaster Cyp12s. The characterization and evolutionary analysis of P450s from B. mori in the current study provide useful information for understanding the characteristics and diversity of P450s from B. mori and the baseline for functional analyses of individual P450s in this model Lepidopteran insect.