9728367 Knipple Pheromone-based mating disruption has been used commercially for about 15 years, and has been shown to be an effective, environmentally benign approach to control several major lepidopteran pests, of which the most economically significant is the pink bollworm (Pectinophora gossypiella). In contrast to conventional insecticides, pheromones are nontoxic and highly selective, and thus are well suited for use in conjunction with other IPM techniques. Despite these advantages, pheromones have met with only limited commercial success, owing largely to the high costs of their synthesis via conventional chemistry. Thus, the goal of this proposal is to develop novel, low cost biosynthetic process steps employing genetic technology for pheromone synthesis. The specific focus of the proposed research is the unique acyl-CoA desaturases present in the pheromone glands of adult lepidopteran females, which catalyze the formation of key unsaturated pheromone intermediates. The investigator will isolate and sequence cDNAs encoding fatty acid desaturases from Pectinophora gossypiella (pink bollworm) that catalyze intermediate steps in the biosynthesis of lepidopterin pheromones, characterize the substrate specificity of these desaturases by expressing the desaturase genes in a desaturase deficient mutant of S. cerevisiae and examining the spectrum of substrate desaturation in vivo in this heterologous system, and construct hybrid moth/yeast desaturases that have novel substrate specificities. ***
