Congratulations to the winners of the 2025 Royal Entomological Society Journal Awards.
Insect Molecular Biology is a Royal Entomological Society journal publishing high-quality original research on insect and arthropod molecular biology. Focusing on insect genomics/genes and proteomics/proteins. Delving into topics like gene structure and regulation, protein localization and function, molecular population genetics, and insect interactions with microorganisms.
We encourage papers with large datasets from experiments or genome analyses, as long as they contribute to hypothesis testing and advance understanding in the field.
Insect Molecular Biology Winner
An-Qi Liu: The JNK signalling pathway gene BmJun is involved in the regulation of egg quality and production in the silkworm, Bombyx mori 34.2
In this paper by An-Qi Liu, she and her co-authors show that the JNK pathway regulates insect growth and tissue remodelling through cell death. They investigated two key genes, BmJun and BmFos, in the silkworm. These bind together to regulate gene expression. Blocking BmJun does not stop silkworms from turning into pupae, but reduces egg nutrient protein production. This leads to fewer, shrunken and malformed eggs.
Suppressing the JNK pathway disrupts development and disturbs egg nutrient storage. Regulating these genes can curb female silkworm reproduction – all important findings in the field.
The judges noted that Liu and her colleagues deserved the win as the paper “integrates molecular, biochemical, and immunohistochemistry methods to demonstrate a new function of the AP-1 transcription factors in egg development in the silkworm Bombyx mori. Crucially, it reports a new function of the AP-1 transcription factors in egg development and demonstrates an enormous amount of work.”
– Judges’ comments
An-Qi Liu is based at the Institute of Neuroscience at Soochow University in China.
