Hofvander, P. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2021

Making Plants Smell Like Moths: Nicotiana benthamiana release moth pheromone alcohol, aldehyde and acetate upon transient expression of biosynthetic genes of different origin

Using genetically modified plants as natural dispensers of insect pheromones may eventually become part of a novel strategy for integrated pest management. In the present study, we first characterized essential functional genes for sex pheromone biosynthesis in the rice stem borer Chilo suppressalis (Walker) by heterologous expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Nicotiana benthamiana, including two desaturase genes CsupYPAQ and CsupKPSE, and a reductase gene CsupFAR2. Subsequently, we co-expressed CsupYPAQ and CsupFAR2 together with the previously characterized moth desaturase Atr{Delta}11 in N. benthamiana. This resulted in the production of (Z)-11-hexadecenol together with (Z)-11-hexadecenal, the major pheromone component of C. suppressalis. Both compounds were collected from the transformed N. benthamiana headspace volatiles using solid phase microextraction. We finally added the expression of a yeast acetyltransferase gene ATF1 and could then confirm also (Z)-11-hexadecenyl acetate release from the plant. Our results pave the way for stable transformation of plants to be used as biological pheromone sources in different pest control strategies.

bioengineering↗

bioRxiv2020

Co-option of a seed-like proteome by oil-rich tubers

Co-option is an important aspect of evolution that can occur on several levels. Genes, whose function was molded by selection in the evolutionary past, are readily observed to serve a new function when acting in a different context in an extant system. Whole organs can be co-opted for new roles as well. For example, roots that evolved from shoot-like axes. Finally a framework of genes and its coded proteins can be co-opted to serve a similar molecular function but in a completely different organ, drastically changing its properties. Here, we describe such an example, where a set of proteins important for desiccation tolerance and oil accumulation in seeds of most angiosperms was co-opted in the tubers of yellow nutsedge (Cyperus esculentus). These tubers are not only desiccation tolerant but also store a large amount of lipids--especially TAG, similar to seeds. We generated nanoLC-MS/MS-based proteomes in five replicates of four stages of tuber development and compared them to the proteomes of roots and leaves, yielding 2257 distinct protein groups. Our data reveal a striking upregulation of hallmark proteins of seeds in the tubers. A deeper comparison to a previously published proteome of Arabidopsis seeds and seedlings indicate that indeed a seed-like proteome was co-opted. This was further supported by an analysis of the proteome of a lipid-droplet enriched fraction of yellow nutsedge, which also displayed seed-like characteristics.

evolutionary biology↗