Docking of non-semiochemical ligands on silkworm Bombyx mori PBP1/GOBP2 binding sites

This work was mandatory on the basis of the following observations: age variations of PBP/GOBP expression independently of the male pheromone responsiveness, detection of PBP and GOBP proteins in aging female moths, PBP/GOBP expression in multiple metabolic tissues at many various life stages of the insect and induction of PBP/GOBP gene by insecticide abamectin. On the basis of this complete set of data analyzing the abundance of mRNA and the presence of protein for PBPs and GOBPs in an extremely large repertoire of tissues, we set out molecular docking experiments to analyze the binding of a variety of non-semiochemical ligands including alkaloids, insecticides, juvenoids, products of fat degradation and vitamins to BmorPBP1 and BmorGOBP2. These two proteins were extensively described for their ability to interact with odor pheromone semiochemical molecule.