Abstract
Moths depend on pheromone communication for mate finding and synthetic pheromones are used for monitoring or disruption of pheromone communication in pest insects. Here we produce moth sex pheromone, using Nicotiana benthamiana as a plant factory, by transient expression of up to four genes coding for consecutive biosynthetic steps. We specifically produce multicomponent sex pheromones for two species. The fatty alcohol fractions from the genetically modified plants are acetylated to mimic the respective sex pheromones of the small ermine moths Yponomeuta evonymella and Y. padella. These mixtures are very efficient and specific for trapping of male moths, matching the activity of conventionally produced pheromones. Our long-term vision is to design tailor-made production of any moth pheromone component in genetically modified plants. Such semisynthetic preparation of sex pheromones is a novel and cost-effective way of producing moderate to large quantities of pheromones with high purity and a minimum of hazardous waste.
Highlights
Moths depend on pheromone communication for mate finding and synthetic pheromones are used for monitoring or disruption of pheromone communication in pest insects
The acyl-CoAs are utilized for the synthesis of extraplastidic lipids by enzymes localized in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)[24]
The enzymes of pheromone biosynthesis used in this study reside in the ER in their natural environment[25]
Summary
Moths depend on pheromone communication for mate finding and synthetic pheromones are used for monitoring or disruption of pheromone communication in pest insects. We first produce (Z)-11-hexadecenol (Z11-16:OH), (E)11-tetradecenol (E11-14:OH), (Z)-11-tetradecenol (Z11-14:OH) and their corresponding acetates, by introducing all the necessary and sufficient genes into N. benthamiana plants. A plant-derived acetyltransferase gene (EaDAcT)[27] was expressed to transfer an acetate group to the primary alcohols and form the (E/Z)-11tetradecenyl acetates (E/Z11-14:OAc) and (Z)-11-hexadecenyl acetate (Z11-16:OAc).
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