| Title: | "Discovery of a disused desaturase gene from the pheromone gland of the moth Ascotis selenaria, which secretes an epoxyalkenyl sex pheromone" |
| Author(s): | Fujii T; Suzuki MG; Katsuma S; Ito K; Rong Y; Matsumoto S; Ando T; Ishikawa Y; |
| Address: | "Graduate School of Bio-Applications and Systems Engineering (BASE), Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Koganei, Tokyo 184-8588, Japan; Molecular Entomology Laboratory, RIKEN (The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research), Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan; Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan. Electronic address: pippi.boo@gmail.com" |
| Journal Title: | Biochem Biophys Res Commun |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.bbrc.2013.10.143 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1090-2104 (Electronic) 0006-291X (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Female Ascotis selenaria (Geometridae) moths use 3,4-epoxy-(Z,Z)-6,9-nonadecadiene, which is synthesized from linolenic acid, as the main component of their sex pheromone. While the use of dietary linolenic or linoleic fatty acid derivatives as sex pheromone components has been observed in moth species belonging to a few families including Geometridae, the majority of moths use derivatives of a common saturated fatty acid, palmitic acid, as their sex pheromone components. We attempted to gain insight into the differentiation of pheromone biosynthetic pathways in geometrids by analyzing the desaturase genes expressed in the pheromone gland of A. selenaria. We demonstrated that a Delta11-desaturase-like gene (Asdesat1) was specifically expressed in the pheromone gland of A. selenaria in spite of the absence of a desaturation step in the pheromone biosynthetic pathway in this species. Further analysis revealed that the presumed transmembrane domains were degenerated in Asdesat1. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that Asdesat1 anciently diverged from the lineage of Delta11-desaturases, which are currently widely used in the biosynthesis of sex pheromones by moths. These results suggest that an ancestral Delta11-desaturase became dysfunctional in A. selenaria after a shift in pheromone biosynthetic pathways" |
| Keywords: | "Amino Acid Sequence Animals Cloning, Molecular Fatty Acid Desaturases/genetics/*metabolism Female Molecular Sequence Data Moths/*enzymology Recombinant Proteins/genetics/metabolism Sex Attractants/*metabolism Acyl-CoA desaturase Geometrid moth Linolenic a;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineFujii, Takeshi Suzuki, Masataka G Katsuma, Susumu Ito, Katsuhiko Rong, Yu Matsumoto, Shogo Ando, Tetsu Ishikawa, Yukio eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't 2013/11/12 Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2013 Nov 29; 441(4):849-55. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2013.10.143. Epub 2013 Nov 6" |
