Integrating lipid metabolism, pheromone production and perception by Fruitless and Hepatocyte nuclear factor 4

Our study found that the non-sex specific Fru isoform (FruCOM) is necessary for pheromone biosynthesis in hepatocyte-like oenocytes for sexual attraction. Loss of FruCOM in oenocytes resulted in adults with reduced levels of the cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs), including sex pheromones, and show altered sexual attraction and reduced cuticular hydrophobicity. To further determine the downstream related mechanism, we performed bulk RNAseq analysis on the oenocyte of Drosophila melanogaster. Adult oenocytes were carefully dissected in 1 x PBS before RNA extraction. Total RNAs were extracted from 7-day-old adult oenocytes using the Zymo RNA preparation kit. Two replicates were collected for each genotype. NEBNext Poly(A) mRNA Magnetic Isolation Module and NEBNext Ultra II RNA Library Prep Kit for Illumina were used for library preparation. The libraries were sequenced using an Illumina HiSeq 2500 system, obtaining 40 million reads for each sample. As a result, multiple metabolic pathways and the CHC biosynthetic pathway regulated by Fru were revealed.