Studies on molecular mechanisms underlying sex pheromone production in moths

神经激素PBAN（费洛蒙生物合成激活神经肽）通过与其同源的PBAN受体结合来调节蚕蛾（Bombyx marmal）的信息素（bombykol）生物合成，该受体位于雌性蛾的信息素腺（PG）细胞中。虽然细胞外Ca^<2+>已被证明是迄今为止所研究的所有物种的性信息素生物合成所必需的，但没有直接证明这一关键事件。为了解决这个问题，我们对分离的pg使用荧光Ca^<2+>成像技术，直接证明PBAN特异性地触发细胞外Ca^<2+>的涌入。尽管许多研究小组努力了解蚕蛹产生的分子机制，但对于外部PBAN信号如何转化为驱动蚕蛹产生和释放的钙信号，人们知之甚少。为了解决这个问题，我们利用了家蚕的基因组信息，并对pg特异性基因进行了表征。PG脂肪酰基还原酶（pgFAR），家蚕PG Z11/Δ10, 12去饱和酶（Bmpgdesatl）， PG酰基辅酶a结合蛋白（pgilCB1），中肠ACBP （mgACBI）和PBAN受体（PBANR）]，并通过RNA干扰介导的功能丧失方法成功证明了它们在蚕豆醇生物合成中的特定作用。

The neurohormone PBAN (pheromone biosynthesis activating neuropeptide) regulates pheromone (bombykol) biosynthesis in the silkmoth, Bombyx marl, by binding to its cognate PBAN receptor, which is located in the pheromone gland (PG) cells of female moths. While extracellular Ca^<2+> had been shown to be essential for sex pheromone biosynthesis in all species studied to date, there had been no direct demonstration of this crucial event. To address this, we used fluorescent Ca^<2+> imaging techniques with isolated PGs to directly demonstrate that PBAN specifically triggers an influx of extracellular Ca^<2+>. Despite the efforts of numerous groups to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying bombykol production, little is known regarding how the external PBAN signal is converted to the calcium signal that drives bombykol production and release. To address this issue, we have taken advantage of the genome information in B. mori and characterized PG-specific genes[i.e. PG fatty acyl reductase (pgFAR), B. mori PG Z11/Δ10, 12 desaturase (Bmpgdesatl), PG acyl-CoA-binding protein (pgilCB1), midgut ACBP (mgACBI), and PBAN receptor (PBANR)] and successfully demonstrated their specific roles in bombykol biosynthesis in vivo by using an RNA interference-mediated loss-of-function approach.