Abstract
Long-term preservation of the ovaries and spermatozoa of the silkworm (Bombyx mori) has been established in our current studies. Female moths yielded eggs which were artificially inseminated with semen of cryopreserved and stored in liquid nitrogen for 971 days. The fertilization rate and the number of eggs laid were almost equivalent to those obtained by normally mated moths. Second, ovaries from 4th instar larvae were removed and cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen for 1,451 days. The thawed ovaries were transplanted to surgically castrated 3rd instar female larvae. The recipient female moth yielded fertilized eggs with natural mating. Third, the female moths that had been transplanted with the cryopreserved ovaries at 3rd instar were artificially inseminated with the semen cryopreserved for 971 days. The recipient females also yielded fertilized eggs in this experiment. These results may contribute to the development of long-term preservation procedures of genetic resources of B. mori.
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