Functional Zoology, Department of Biology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 37, SE-22362 Lund, Sweden.
Insect Biochem Mol Biol. 2011 Sep;41(9):715-22. doi: 10.1016/j.ibmb.2011.05.003. Epub 2011 May 30.
The winter moth (Operophtera brumata L., Lepidoptera: Geometridae) utilizes a single hydrocarbon, 1,Z3,Z6,Z9-nonadecatetraene, as its sex pheromone. We tested the hypothesis that a fatty acid precursor, Z11,Z14,Z17,19-nonadecanoic acid, is biosynthesized from α-linolenic acid, through chain elongation by one 2-carbon unit, and subsequent methyl-terminus desaturation. Our results show that labeled α-linolenic acid is indeed incorporated into the pheromone component in vivo. A fatty-acyl-CoA desaturase gene that we found to be expressed in the abdominal epidermal tissue, the presumed site of biosynthesis for type II pheromones, was characterized and expressed heterologously in a yeast system. The transgenic yeast expressing this insect derived gene could convert Z11,Z14,Z17-eicosatrienoic acid into Z11,Z14,Z17,19-eicosatetraenoic acid. These results provide evidence that a terminal desaturation step is involved in the winter moth pheromone biosynthesis, prior to the decarboxylation.
冬季蛾（Operophtera brumata L.，鳞翅目：尺蛾科）利用一种单一的碳氢化合物，1,Z3,Z6,Z9-十九碳四烯作为其性信息素。我们验证了一个假设，即脂肪酸前体 Z11,Z14,Z17,19-十九烷酸是通过两个碳原子单元的链延伸，以及随后的甲基末端去饱和作用，从α-亚麻酸生物合成而来。我们的结果表明，标记的α-亚麻酸确实在体内被掺入到信息素成分中。我们发现一个在腹部表皮组织中表达的脂肪酸酰基辅酶 A 去饱和酶基因，该组织被认为是 II 型信息素生物合成的部位，其特征在于在酵母系统中异源表达。表达这种昆虫衍生基因的转基因酵母能够将 Z11,Z14,Z17-二十碳三烯酸转化为 Z11,Z14,Z17,19-二十碳四烯酸。这些结果提供了证据，表明在冬季蛾性信息素生物合成中，脱羧作用之前涉及末端去饱和步骤。
