Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada 89557, USA; email:
Department of Entomology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA; email:
Annu Rev Entomol. 2021 Jan 7;66:45-60. doi: 10.1146/annurev-ento-031620-071754.
Insect cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) consist of complex mixtures of straight-chain alkanes and alkenes, and methyl-branched hydrocarbons. In addition to restricting water loss through the cuticle and preventing desiccation, they have secondarily evolved to serve a variety of functions in chemical communication and play critical roles as signals mediating the life histories of insects. In this review, we describe the physical properties of CHCs that allow for both waterproofing and signaling functions, summarize their roles as inter- and intraspecific chemical signals, and discuss the influences of diet and environment on CHC profiles. We also present advances in our understanding of hydrocarbon biosynthesis. Hydrocarbons are biosynthesized in oenocytes and transported to the cuticle by lipophorin proteins. Recent work on the synthesis of fatty acids and their ultimate reductive decarbonylation to hydrocarbons has taken advantage of powerful new tools of molecular biology, including genomics and RNA interference knockdown of specific genes, to provide new insights into the biosynthesis of hydrocarbons.
昆虫表皮碳氢化合物（CHCs）由直链烷烃和烯烃以及甲基支链烃的复杂混合物组成。除了通过表皮限制水分流失和防止干燥外，它们还进化出了多种化学通讯功能，并作为调节昆虫生活史的信号发挥关键作用。在这篇综述中，我们描述了 CHCs 的物理性质，这些性质既允许防水又允许信号传递，总结了它们作为种间和种内化学信号的作用，并讨论了饮食和环境对 CHC 分布的影响。我们还介绍了对碳氢化合物生物合成的理解的进展。碳氢化合物是在脂肪体中生物合成的，并通过脂磷蛋白运输到表皮。最近关于脂肪酸合成及其最终还原脱羰为碳氢化合物的工作利用了强大的分子生物学新工具，包括基因组学和特定基因的 RNA 干扰敲低，为碳氢化合物的生物合成提供了新的见解。
