The use of insect sex pheromones is an alternative technology for pest control in agriculture and forestry, which, in contrast to insecticides, does not have adverse effects on human health or environment and is efficient also against insecticide-resistant insect populations. Due to the high cost of chemically synthesized pheromones, mating disruption applications are currently primarily targeting higher value crops, such as fruits. Here we demonstrate a biotechnological method for the production of (Z)-hexadec-11-en-1-ol and (Z)-tetradec-9-en-1-ol, using engineered yeast cell factories. These unsaturated fatty alcohols are pheromone components or the immediate precursors of pheromone components of several economically important moth pests. Biosynthetic pathways towards several pheromones or their precursors were reconstructed in the oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica, which was further metabolically engineered for improved pheromone biosynthesis by decreasing fatty alcohol degradation and downregulating storage lipid accumulation. The sex pheromone of the cotton bollworm Helicoverpa armigera was produced by oxidation of fermented fatty alcohols into corresponding aldehydes. The resulting yeast-derived pheromone was just as efficient and specific for trapping of H. armigera male moths in cotton fields in Greece as a conventionally produced synthetic pheromone mixture. We further demonstrated the production of (Z)-tetradec-9-en-1-yl acetate, the main pheromone component of the fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda. Taken together our work describes a biotech platform for the production of commercially relevant titres of moth pheromones for pest control via yeast fermentation.

昆虫性信息素的使用是农业和林业害虫控制的替代技术，与杀虫剂相比，它对人类健康或环境没有不利影响，并且对抗杀虫剂的昆虫种群也很有效。由于化学合成信息素的成本很高，交配中断应用目前主要针对价值更高的作物，例如水果。在这里，我们展示了一种生产 ( Z )-hexadec-11-en-1-ol 和 ( Z)-tetradec-9-en-1-ol，使用工程酵母细胞工厂。这些不饱和脂肪醇是一些经济上重要的蛾类害虫的信息素成分或信息素成分的直接前体。在产油酵母解脂耶氏酵母中重建了几种信息素或其前体的生物合成途径，通过减少脂肪醇降解和下调储存脂质积累，进一步代谢工程以改善信息素生物合成。棉铃虫Helicoverpa armigera的性信息素是通过发酵脂肪醇氧化成相应的醛类产生的。由此产生的酵母来源的信息素对于捕获棉铃虫同样有效且具有特异性希腊棉田中的雄性飞蛾作为常规生产的合成信息素混合物。我们进一步证明了 ( Z )-tetradec-9-en-1-yl 醋酸盐的生产，这是秋季粘虫草地夜蛾的主要信息素成分。总的来说，我们的工作描述了一个生物技术平台，用于通过酵母发酵生产商业相关滴度的蛾信息素用于害虫控制。