Team:Valencia UPV/Project/results/trichome expression

This project main objective was to produce insect sexual pheromones in genetically engineered plants, but once this goal was achieved, another important question raised, would that plant be able to release these pheromones into the environment.

Therefore, mimicking nature, the chosen approach was to express the enzymes of the pheromone production pathway (see biosynthesis) specifically on glandular trichomes, which are plant organs, specialized on releasing volatiles. With this objective, a glandular trichome-specific promoter (PCPS2) was obtained from Nicotiana tabacum genome for further use. (see Module: Pheromone release)

At the end of the journey we have achieved a plant able to produce three insect sexual pheromones:

• (Z)-11-hexadecen-1-ol as the most abundant plant volatile.
• (Z)-11-hexadecenyl acetate as one of the most abundant volatile molecules in the plant, with an unprecedented conversion yield.
• (Z)-11-hexadecenal, produced by an endogenous plant enzyme at? low yield that could be improved in future studies.