Affiliation:
1. School of Chemistry, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, United Kingdom
2. Center of Engineering and Agrarian Science, Federal University of Alagoas, Maceio 57100-000, Brazil
3. School of Chemistry, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, United Kingdom
Abstract
The phlebotomine sandfly,
Lutzomyia longipalpis
, a major vector of the
Leishmania
parasite, uses terpene pheromones to attract conspecifics for mating. Examination of the
L. longipalpis
genome revealed a putative terpene synthase (TPS), which—upon heterologous expression in, and purification from,
Escherichia coli
—yielded a functional enzyme. The TPS, termed
Ll
TPS, converted geranyl diphosphate (GPP) into a mixture of monoterpenes with low efficiency, of which β-ocimene was the major product. (
E,E
)-farnesyl diphosphate (FPP) principally produced small amounts of (
E
)-β-farnesene, while (
Z,E
)- and (
Z,Z
)-FPP yielded a mixture of bisabolene isomers. None of these mono- and sesquiterpenes are known volatiles of
L. longipalpis
. Notably, however, when provided with (
E,E,E
)-geranylgeranyl diphosphate (GGPP),
Ll
TPS gave sobralene as its major product. This diterpene pheromone is released by certain chemotypes of
L. longipalpis
, in particular those found in the Ceará state of Brazil. Minor diterpene components were also seen as products of the enzyme that matched those seen in a sandfly pheromone extract.
Funder
UKRI | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Publisher
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Reference52 articles.
1. The function of terpene natural products in the natural world
2. Terpene synthase genes in eukaryotes beyond plants and fungi: Occurrence in social amoebae
3. E. David Morgan, Biosynthesis in Insects, Advanced Edition (Royal Society of Chemistry, 2010).
4. Isoprenoid biosynthesis in bacteria: a novel pathway for the early steps leading to isopentenyl diphosphate
5. J. Gershenzon, R. B. Croteau, "Terpenoid biosynthesis: The basic pathway and formation of monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, and diterpenes" in Lipid Metabolism in Plants, T. S. Moore, Ed. (CRC Press, 1993), pp. 339–388.
Cited by
1 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献，注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献，订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献