Autophagy in Silkworm Biology: Progress and Perspectives

Abstract

Simple Summary Autophagy is a fundamental catabolic process governing cellular quality control, metabolic adaptation, and developmental programming across eukaryotes. The silkworm, domesticated for millennia as a silk-producing insect, holds substantial sericultural value. Concurrently, the silkworm has emerged as a well-established model organism, benefiting from a fully sequenced genome and considerable genetic homology to humans, thereby serving as a powerful platform for dissecting autophagic regulatory networks. This review summarizes current advances in silkworm autophagy research across four interconnected domains: (i) the functional characterization of autophagy-related genes; (ii) the roles of autophagy in silkworm metamorphosis and development; (iii) autophagic responses to various environmental stressors; and (iv) the potential of the silkworm as a model organism for elucidating autophagy–apoptosis crosstalk in disease contexts. Collectively, this review provides a foundational basis for future advancements in sericulture, disease management, and drug development.