Research interest

 

A pheromone is a chemical (or a mixture of chemicals) that triggers a natural behavioral response in another member of the same species. Many lepidopterans (moths and butterflies) can detect a potential mate from far away. Many of the described moth pheromones belong to the same class of chemical compounds, the acetate/alcohol/aldehyde class of pheromones, that are fatty acid derivatives produced de novo in the pheromone gland. This kind of pheromone biosynthesis involves desaturation, chain-shortening by β-oxidation and final reduction, acetylation or oxidation and some key enzyme have been characterized.

Since late 1980s and early 1990s, another pheromone type was also identified, consisting of unsaturated hydrocarbons and the corresponding monoepoxides. Unlike the acetate/alcohol/aldehyde class of pheromones, these compounds are derived from linoleic and linolenic acid. Because these two fatty acids are diet derived rather than synthesized de novo, the resulting pheromone components are the products of a different biosynthetic pathway than are the acetates/alcohols/aldehydes.

I currently study two moth species that use the second class of pheromone, aiming to find the responsible genes involved in their pheromone biosynthesis.