An IDS-Type Sesquiterpene Synthase Produces the Pheromone Precursor (Z)-α-Bisabolene in Nezara viridula

• Published in: Journal of chemical ecology Vol. 45; no. 2; pp. 187 - 197
• Main Authors: Lancaster, Jason, Lehner, Bryan, Khrimian, Ashot, Muchlinski, Andrew, Luck, Katrin, Köllner, Tobias G., Weber, Donald C., Gundersen-Rindal, Dawn E., Tholl, Dorothea
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-02-2019; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agglomeration; Agriculture; Alkyl and Aryl Transferases - genetics; Alkyl and Aryl Transferases - metabolism; Animals; Biochemistry; Biological Microscopy; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biosynthesis; Bisabolene; Chemical communication; Cuticles; Ecology; Engraving; Entomology; Female; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; Heteroptera - enzymology; Host plants; Insect Proteins - genetics; Insect Proteins - metabolism; Insects; Ips pini; Life Sciences; Lysates; Male; Nezara viridula; Pentatomidae; Pheromones; Plant tissues; Precursors; Proteins; Recombinant Proteins - biosynthesis; Recombinant Proteins - genetics; RNA - isolation & purification; RNA - metabolism; Sesquiterpene synthase; Sesquiterpenes; Sex; Sex Attractants - chemistry; Sex Attractants - metabolism; Sex pheromone; Stereoisomerism; Substrates; Terpene synthase; Terpenes; Sex pheromone; Terpene synthase; Isoprenyl diphosphate synthase; Southern green stink bug; Pentatomidae; Hemiptera
• ISSN: 0098-0331; 1573-1561
• DOI: 10.1007/s10886-018-1019-0

Insects use a wide range of structurally diverse pheromones for intra-specific communication. Compounds in the class of terpenes are emitted as sex, aggregation, alarm, or trail pheromones. Despite the common occurrence of terpene pheromones in different insect lineages, their origin from dietary host plant precursors or
de novo
biosynthetic pathways often remains unknown. Several stink bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) release bisabolene-type sesquiterpenes for aggregation and mating. Here we provide evidence for
de novo
biosynthesis of the sex pheromone
trans−
/
cis
-(
Z
)-α-bisabolene epoxide of the Southern green stink bug,
Nezara viridula
. We show that an enzyme (
Nv
TPS) related to isoprenyl diphosphate synthases (IDSs) of the core terpene metabolic pathway functions as a terpene synthase (TPS), which converts the general intermediate (
E
,
E
)-farnesyl diphosphate (FPP) to the putative pheromone precursor (+)-(
S
,
Z
)-α-bisabolene
in vitro
and in protein lysates. A second identified IDS-type protein (
Nv
FPPS) makes the TPS substrate (
E
,
E
)-FPP and functions as a bona fide FPP synthase.
NvTPS
is highly expressed in male epidermal tissue associated with the cuticle of ventral sternites, which is in agreement with the male specific release of the pheromone from glandular cells in this tissue. Our study supports findings of the function of similar TPS enzymes in the biosynthesis of aggregation pheromones from the pine engraver beetle
Ips pini
, the striped flea beetle
Phyllotreta striolata
, and the harlequin bug
Murgantia histrionica,
and hence provides growing evidence for the evolution of terpene
de novo
biosynthesis by IDS-type TPS families in insects.