Most moths utilize sex pheromones released by the female to attract a mate. Females produce the sex pheromone in the pheromone gland in a biosynthetic pathway which consists of several key enzymes. Fatty acyl-CoA reductase is one of the key enzymes, which catalyzes the conversion of fatty acyl-CoA to the corresponding alcohol, playing an important role in producing the final proportion of each pheromone component. In Helicoverpa zea, (Z)-11-hexadecenal is the major sex pheromone component in female pheromone glands and previously a large amount of hexadecanal was also found in female and male tarsi. In our previous study, we compared the transcriptome between pheromone glands and tarsi and found 20 fatty acyl-CoA reductases in both tissues. In this study, we functionally characterized four FARs which were expressed at high levels according to the transcriptome of pheromone glands and tarsi. Fatty acyl-CoA reductase 1 was homologous to other moth pheromone gland specific fatty acyl-CoA reductases, and it was also present in male tarsi. Functional expression in yeast cells indicates that only fatty acyl-CoA reductase 1 was able to produce fatty alcohols. In addition, a decreased mRNA level of fatty acyl-CoA reductase 1 in female pheromone glands and male tarsi by RNAi knockdown caused a significant decrease in the production of (Z)-11-hexadecenal in pheromone glands and hexadecanal in male tarsi. This study is the first to demonstrate the direct function of a fatty acyl-CoA reductase in male tarsi and also confirms its role in sex pheromone biosynthesis in H. zea.

中文翻译：

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玉米耳蜗Helicoverpa zea的雌性信息素腺和睑板中的脂肪酰基还原酶的功能鉴定。

大多数飞蛾利用雌性释放的性信息素吸引伴侣。雌性通过一种由几种关键酶组成的生物合成途径在信息素腺中产生性信息素。脂肪酰基辅酶A还原酶是关键酶之一，其催化脂肪酰基辅酶A转化为相应的醇，在产生每种信息素组分的最终比例中起重要作用。在Helicoverpa zea中，（Z）-11-十六烯醛是雌性信息素腺中的主要性信息素成分，以前在雌性和雄性tarsi中也发现了大量的十六烷醛。在我们先前的研究中，我们比较了信息素腺和tarsi之间的转录组，发现在两种组织中都有20种脂肪酰基辅酶A还原酶。在这项研究中，我们根据信息素腺和tarsi的转录组在功能上表征了四个高表达的FAR。脂肪酰基辅酶A还原酶1与其他蛾信息素腺特异的脂肪酰基辅酶A还原酶同源，也存在于雄性tarsi中。酵母细胞中的功能性表达表明只有脂肪酰基辅酶A还原酶1能够产生脂肪醇。此外，RNAi的敲除降低了雌性信息素腺和雄性tarsi中的脂肪酰基辅酶A还原酶1的mRNA水平，从而导致信息素腺中（Z）-11-十六碳烯的生成和雄性tarsi中的十六烷的生成显着减少。这项研究是第一个证明脂肪酰基辅酶A还原酶在男性tarsi中的直接功能，并且也证实了其在H. zea中性信息素生物合成中的作用。