An overview of pheromone biosynthesis and regulation in insects will be presented. Most insect species studied to date regulate pheromone production by one of three hormones: Pheromone Biosynthesis Activating Neuropeptide (PBAN), Juvenile hormone (JH) or Ecdysteroids. Much of our understanding of the regulation of pheromone production comes from studies in four orders, Lepidoptera, Blattodea, Coleoptera and Diptera. In the Lepidoptera, pheromone production is often regulated by a 33 or 34 amino acid peptide, PBAN which regulates fatty acid derived pheromones through a cell membrane second messenger signaling system. Blattodean and coleopteran pheromone production is often induced by JH. In several bark beetles that produce isoprenoid pheromones, JH markedly induces 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase (HMG-R) mRNA and enzyme activity, along with other enzymes in the isoprenoid pathway. In the female housefly and perhaps other Diptera, hydrocarbon pheromone production is regulated by ecdysteroids. In the housefly, ovarian produced ecdysteroids alter the fatty acyl-CoA chain elongation system such that the products change from alkenes of 27 and longer to produce (Z)-9-tricosene (C23 alkene).
Species 1: Diptera Muscidae Musca domestica (house fly)
Keywords: Pheromones, biochemistry
The ESA 2001 Annual Meeting - 2001: An Entomological Odyssey of ESA