Durand Nicolas, Chertemps Thomas, Maïbèche-Coisne Martine
Commun Integr Biol. 2012 May 1;5(3):284-6. doi: 10.4161/cib.19701.
Pheromone-degrading enzymes (PDEs) are supposed to be involved in the signal inactivation step within the olfactory sensilla of insects by quickly degrading pheromone molecules. Because esters are widespread insect pheromone components, PDEs belonging to the carboxylesterase (CCE) family have been the most studied. However, only two CCEs were both identified at the molecular level and functionally characterized as PDEs until recently. In the pest moth Spodoptera littoralis, we have identified an unsuspected diversity of antennal CCEs, with a total number of 30 genes. Two CCEs, enriched in antennae and belonging to distinct clades, were shown to present different substrate specificities toward pheromone and plant compounds. A same CCE was also shown to efficiently degrade both pheromone and plant components. Our results suggest that the structural evolution of antennal CCEs reflects their functional diversity and that a complex set of CCE-mediated reactions take place is the olfactory organs of moths.
信息素降解酶（PDEs）被认为通过快速降解信息素分子参与昆虫嗅觉感器内的信号失活步骤。由于酯类是广泛存在的昆虫信息素成分，属于羧酸酯酶（CCE）家族的PDEs受到了最多的研究。然而，直到最近，只有两种CCEs在分子水平上被鉴定出来，并在功能上被表征为PDEs。在害虫蛾类草地贪夜蛾中，我们发现触角CCEs存在意想不到的多样性，共有30个基因。两种在触角中富集且属于不同进化枝的CCEs，对信息素和植物化合物表现出不同的底物特异性。同一种CCE也被证明能有效降解信息素和植物成分。我们的结果表明，触角CCEs的结构进化反映了它们的功能多样性，并且在蛾类的嗅觉器官中发生了一系列复杂的CCE介导的反应。
