[en] The Lepidoptera expanded recently and represent the most specious order of plant feeding insects. Most female moths release a specific blend of odours (called sex-pheromone) aimed at attracting conspecific males. Primitive moth species rely on short chain alcohols and ketones while ditrysian moths ( 95 %) utilize fatty acid derivatives as sex-pheromones.
The ditrysian mate-signalling entails a few biosynthetic enzymes including
Δ11-desaturases inserting double bonds at various positions in the
carbon chain. The main goals of this project are to elucidate i) specific mechanisms implicated in mate finding in Lepidoptera and ii) the origin of the novel fatty acid derived sex pheromones by investigating:
• the sex-pheromone biosynthetic routes in several moth species
• when were the Lepidoptera-specific desaturase subfamilies (i.e., Δ9 or Δ11-desaturases) recruited for pheromone production in the evolutionary history of moths
• their role in sex-pheromone evolution and speciation within the Lepidoptera
Disciplines :
Genetics & genetic processes
Author, co-author :
Lienard, Marjorie ; Université de Liège - ULiège > GIGA > GIGA Molecular Biology of Diseases ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences de la vie ; Lund University > Ecology
Johansson, Tomas; Lund University > Ecology > Microbiology
Löfstedt, C; Lund University > Ecology > Chemical Ecology
Language :
English
Title :
Molecular, Genetic and Biochemical mechanisms implied in distinct lepidopteran sex-pheromone biosynthetic routes
Publication date :
August 2008
Event name :
Graduate Research School in Genomic Ecology
Event organizer :
Graduate Research School in Genomic Ecology, Lund University
