Abstract：
Natural silks are renewable proteins with impressive mechanical properties and biocompatibility that are useful in various fields. However, the cellular and spatial organization of silk-secreting organs remains unclear. Here, we combined single-nucleus and spatially resolved transcriptomics to systematically map the cellular and spatial composition of the silk glands (SGs) of mulberry silkworms late in larval development. This approach allowed us to profile SG cell types and cell state dynamics and identify regulatory networks and cell-cell communication related to efficient silk protein synthesis; key markers were validated via transgenic approaches. Notably, we demonstrated the indispensable role of the ecdysone receptor (ultraspiracle) in regulating endoreplication in SG cells. Our atlas presents the results of spatiotemporal analysis of silk-secreting organ architecture late in larval development; this atlas provides a valuable reference for elucidating the mechanism of efficient silk protein synthesis and developing sustainable products made from natural silk.
摘要：
天然丝是可再生蛋白质，具有令人印象深刻的机械性能和生物相容性，可用于各个领域。然而,丝分泌器官的细胞和空间组织仍不清楚。这里,我们将单核和空间分辨转录组学相结合，系统地绘制了幼虫发育后期桑蚕丝腺（SGs）的细胞和空间组成。这种方法使我们能够描述SG细胞类型和细胞状态动力学，并鉴定与有效丝蛋白合成相关的调节网络和细胞间通讯；通过转基因方法验证了关键标记。值得注意的是,我们证明了蜕皮激素受体（ultrasspheracle）在调节SG细胞内复制中不可或缺的作用。我们的图集介绍了幼虫发育后期丝分泌器官结构的时空分析结果。该图集为阐明高效合成丝蛋白的机制和开发由天然丝制成的可持续产品提供了有价值的参考。
