Evolution of Unique Desaturases in Moth Sex Pheromone Glands

9870669昆虫中的罗洛夫性信息素系统已经引起了相当大的关注，因为用于吸引配偶的特定物种的引诱化学物质可以被用于监测和昆虫管理策略。此外，这些信号在维持物种完整性方面的关键使用支持了特定信号的进化直接涉及物种形成过程的观点。尽管目前对雌蛾信息素腺体中的化学信号是如何生物合成的已知很多，但对于这些化学通讯系统是如何进化到在相关物种中使用不同的混合物和化学成分仍然存在许多问题。罗洛夫斯博士发现，在蛾子信息素腺体中进化出了一系列独特的酶，以产生不饱和化合物，这些化合物在其他动物中通常不存在的位置上具有双键。PI假设，这些独特的去饱和酶是从常见的Delta9去饱和酶进化而来的，这种酶在所有动物中都存在，可以产生油酸(碳9不饱和)等化合物。一些独特的去饱和酶基因的特征将提供对原始物种和高级物种的去饱和酶基因与常见的Delta9去饱和酶基因进行比较的可能性，以更好地了解物种形成过程。该项目目前正处于鉴定一种能产生E构型双键的去饱和酶基因的阶段--这是一种尚未在任何植物或动物中发现的基因。了解蛾腺独特的去饱和酶及其如何插入双键，除了对有关这些酶的基础知识和规范过程有巨大贡献外，还可能导致开发商业工艺，为制药、食品或化学工业生产有价值的原材料。

9870669 Roelofs Sex pheromone systems in insects have had considerable attention because the species-specific attractant chemicals used for attracting mates can be exploited for monitoring and insect management strategies. Also, the critical use of these signals in maintaining the integrity of a species supports the idea that the evolution of the specific signals is directly involved in the speciation process. Although much is now known about how the chemical signals are biosynthesized in the pheromone gland of female moths, there remain many questions about how these chemical communication systems have evolved to use different blends and chemical compositions in related moth species. Dr. Roelofs has found that a family of unique enzymes have evolved in the moth pheromone gland to produce unsaturated compounds possessing double bonds in locations not normally found in other animals. The PI hypothesizes that these unique desaturases evolved from the common delta9 desaturase that is found in all animals to make compounds such as oleic acid (unsaturation at carbon 9). The characterization of the genes for some of the unique desaturases would provide the possibility of conducting a comparison of desaturase genes from primitive and advanced species to the common delta9 desaturase gene to understand better the speciation process. The project is now at a stage of characterizing a gene for a desaturase that produces an E configuration double bond - a gene that has not been identified in any plant or animal. An understanding of the unique desaturases from moth glands and how they insert double bonds, in addition to its huge contribution to the fundamental knowledge about these enzymes and to the specification process, could lead to the development of commercial processes for producing valuable raw materials for the pharmaceuticals, food or chemical industries.