author(s)
K. Ashok Kumar, P. Somasundram, R. RadhaKrishnan, N. Balachandran, and V. Siva Prasad

abstract
Studies on thermo tolerance in silkworm genetic resources are imperative to know the degree of thermo tolerance of the silkworm breeds enabling them to cope with varied agro climatic conditions in the tropical regions of the country. The inbuilt mechanism of gene expression of heat shock proteins when the breeds are exposed to higher temperature is not understood properly in Bombyx mori (L). Proteins are involved in resisting the higher temperature effect on the cellular physiology and biochemical synthetic process that get abruptly affected during the heat shock period. Their expression profiles in different silkworm breeds when documented through reproducible molecular markers would favor us in updating the theoretical knowledge on the use of these markers for identification of different thermo tolerant varieties and short listing them from the germplasm stocks. The identified markers, can be used by researchers and breeders to be utilized as dependable markers for identification of hardy silkworm breeds /or races from the silkworm genetic resources.