Bingye Xue, bx24@cornell.edu, NYSAES-Cornell University, Entomology Department, West North Street, Geneva, NY, Alejandro P. Rooney, ROONEY@ncaur.usda.gov, Agricultural Research Service, National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, 1815 N. University Street, Peoria, IL, and Wendell Roelofs, wlr1@cornell.edu, New York State Agricultural Experiment Station,Cornell University, Entomology Department, West North Street, Geneva, NY.
Acyl-CoA desaturases play a key role in the biosynthesis of female moth sex pheromones. The acyl-CoA sex pheromone desaturase genes are encoded by a multigene family that can be divided into 5 subgroups on the basis of biochemical functionality and phylogenetic affinity. Although there has been considerable research on the phylogeny and divergence patterns of sex pheromone desaturase genes, there is a dearth of knowledge concerning the evolution of their genomic architecture and whether or not it had an impact on their functional divergence. Here we report on the results of some of our studies on this problem in the sibling species Ostrinia nubilalis [the European Cornborer (ECB)] and O. furnacalis [the Asian Cornborer (ACB)]. We found: (1) that intron conservation/loss is correlated with the functional divergence of sex pheromone desaturases; (2) that there are many silent D11 desaturase gene variants in Ostrinia genomes; and (3) that retrotransposons play a role in D11 desaturase gene duplication and evolution in Ostrinia.
Species 1: Lepidoptera Crambidae
Ostrinia nubilalis (European corn borer)
Species 2: Lepidoptera Crambidae
Ostrinia furnacalis (Asian corn borer)
Keywords: desaturase, genomics
