Sex pheromone biosynthesis in the sugarcane borer Diatraea saccharalis: paving the way for biotechnological production

The sugarcane borer Diatraea saccharalis (Lepidoptera) is a key pest on sugarcane and other grasses in the Americas. Biological control as well as ineffective insecticide treatments are used for pest management, but economic losses are still significant. The use of female sex pheromones for mating disruption or mass trapping in pest management could be established for this species, provided that economical production of pheromone is available. Combining in vivo labelling studies, differential expression analysis of transcriptome data and functional characterisation of insect genes in a yeast expression system, here we describe the identification of the desaturase- and reductase enzymes involved in the biosynthetic pathway of the main pheromone component (9Z,11E)-hexadecadienal, and minor components hexadecanal, (9Z)-hexadecenal and (11Z)-hexadecenal. We next demonstrate heterologous production of the corresponding alcohols of the pheromone components, by expressing multiple steps of the biosynthetic pathway in yeast. These results pave the way for biotechnological production of the pheromone compounds needed for pheromone-based management of the pest D. saccharalis.