Morphogen-driven melanin pathway dynamics regulated by Wnt1 and apontic-like underlie larval spot coloration in Bombyx mori

In insects, conspicuous larval pigmentation patterns serve critical ecological roles such as warning signals and mimicry, yet their underlying genetic regulation remains poorly understood. In this study, I investigated the molecular mechanisms underlying black and yellow pigmentation patterns in three distinct larval spot types of the silkworm Bombyx mori: large, diffuse L-spots of the Multilunar (L) mutant; small, sharply defined +^(p)-spots of the Normal strain; oval p^(M)-hybrid spots of an...