Enzyme-catalyzed pheromone synthesis by Heliothis moths

The specificity of blends of compounds used for pheromone communication by Lepidoptera species is the result of essentially two distinct sets of biosynthetic enzymes which regulate the production of specific olefinic bonds and synthesis of the oxygenated functional moiety, respectively. In Heliothis moths the regulatory systems that are responsible for production of the functional group during the final stages of peromone biosynthesis consist of cellular acetate esterases and extracellular alcohol oxidases. Evidence indicates that the relative activities of these enzymes differ for each species of Heliothis. Thus, pheromone mediated reproductive isolation between closely related species of Heliothis is probably the result, in large measure, of the fact that some species require only aldehydes for communication while others use acetates, alcohols and aldehydes.