Amino Acid Change in an Orchid Desaturase Enables Mimicry of the Pollinator’s Sex Pheromone
Abstract
Here, we show that mimicry illustrates the power of selection to produce phenotypic convergence in biology. A striking example is the imitation of female insects by plants that are pollinated by sexual deception of males of the same insect species. This involves mimicry of visual, tactile, and chemical signals of females, especially their sex pheromones. The Mediterranean orchid Ophrys exaltata employs chemical mimicry of cuticular hydrocarbons, particularly the 7-alkenes, in an insect sex pheromone to attract and elicit mating behavior in its pollinators, males of the cellophane bee Colletes cunicularius. A difference in alkene double-bond positions is responsible for reproductive isolation between O. exaltata and closely related species, such as O. sphegodes. We show that these 7-alkenes are likely determined by the action of the stearoyl-acyl-carrier-protein desaturase (SAD) homolog SAD5. After gene duplication, changes in subcellular localization relative to the ancestral housekeeping desaturase may have allowed proto-SAD5’s reaction products to undergo further biosynthesis to both 7- and 9-alkenes. Such ancestral coproduction of two alkene classes may have led to pollinator-mediated deleterious pleiotropy. Despite possible evolutionary intermediates with reduced activity, amino acid changes at the bottom of the substrate-binding cavity have conferred enzyme specificity for 7-alkene biosynthesis by preventing the bindingmore »
- Authors:
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1361703
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1326867; OSTI ID: 1335436
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-112099-2016-JA
Journal ID: ISSN 0960-9822; S0960982216303402; PII: S0960982216303402
- Grant/Contract Number:
- KC0304000; SC0012704; 31003A_130796; 31003A_141245
- Resource Type:
- Published Article
- Journal Name:
- Current Biology
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Current Biology Journal Volume: 26 Journal Issue: 11; Journal ID: ISSN 0960-9822
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
- Country of Publication:
- United Kingdom
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Citation Formats
Sedeek, Khalid E. M., Whittle, Edward, Guthörl, Daniela, Grossniklaus, Ueli, Shanklin, John, and Schlüter, Philipp M. Amino Acid Change in an Orchid Desaturase Enables Mimicry of the Pollinator’s Sex Pheromone. United Kingdom: N. p., 2016.
Web. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2016.04.018.
Sedeek, Khalid E. M., Whittle, Edward, Guthörl, Daniela, Grossniklaus, Ueli, Shanklin, John, & Schlüter, Philipp M. Amino Acid Change in an Orchid Desaturase Enables Mimicry of the Pollinator’s Sex Pheromone. United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.04.018
Sedeek, Khalid E. M., Whittle, Edward, Guthörl, Daniela, Grossniklaus, Ueli, Shanklin, John, and Schlüter, Philipp M. Wed .
"Amino Acid Change in an Orchid Desaturase Enables Mimicry of the Pollinator’s Sex Pheromone". United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.04.018.
@article{osti_1361703,
title = {Amino Acid Change in an Orchid Desaturase Enables Mimicry of the Pollinator’s Sex Pheromone},
author = {Sedeek, Khalid E. M. and Whittle, Edward and Guthörl, Daniela and Grossniklaus, Ueli and Shanklin, John and Schlüter, Philipp M.},
abstractNote = {Here, we show that mimicry illustrates the power of selection to produce phenotypic convergence in biology. A striking example is the imitation of female insects by plants that are pollinated by sexual deception of males of the same insect species. This involves mimicry of visual, tactile, and chemical signals of females, especially their sex pheromones. The Mediterranean orchid Ophrys exaltata employs chemical mimicry of cuticular hydrocarbons, particularly the 7-alkenes, in an insect sex pheromone to attract and elicit mating behavior in its pollinators, males of the cellophane bee Colletes cunicularius. A difference in alkene double-bond positions is responsible for reproductive isolation between O. exaltata and closely related species, such as O. sphegodes. We show that these 7-alkenes are likely determined by the action of the stearoyl-acyl-carrier-protein desaturase (SAD) homolog SAD5. After gene duplication, changes in subcellular localization relative to the ancestral housekeeping desaturase may have allowed proto-SAD5’s reaction products to undergo further biosynthesis to both 7- and 9-alkenes. Such ancestral coproduction of two alkene classes may have led to pollinator-mediated deleterious pleiotropy. Despite possible evolutionary intermediates with reduced activity, amino acid changes at the bottom of the substrate-binding cavity have conferred enzyme specificity for 7-alkene biosynthesis by preventing the binding of longer-chained fatty acid (FA) precursors by the enzyme. In conclusion, this change in desaturase function enabled the orchid to perfect its chemical mimicry of pollinator sex pheromones by escape from deleterious pleiotropy, supporting a role of pleiotropy in determining the possible trajectories of adaptive evolution.},
doi = {10.1016/j.cub.2016.04.018},
journal = {Current Biology},
number = 11,
volume = 26,
place = {United Kingdom},
year = {Wed Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Wed Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.04.018
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Cited by: 22 works
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Works referenced in this record:
Data from: Amino acid change in an orchid desaturase enables mimicry of the pollinator’s sex pheromone
dataset, May 2016
- Sedeek, KEM; Whittle, E.; Guthorl, D.
- Dryad, vp
Works referencing / citing this record:
Data from: Amino acid change in an orchid desaturase enables mimicry of the pollinator’s sex pheromone
dataset, May 2016
- Sedeek, KEM; Whittle, E.; Guthorl, D.
- Dryad, vp
Duplication and selection in β-ketoacyl-ACP synthase gene lineages in the sexually deceptive Chiloglottis (Orchidaceace)
journal, February 2019
- Wong, Darren C. J.; Amarasinghe, Ranamalie; Falara, Vasiliki
- Annals of Botany, Vol. 123, Issue 6
Duplication and selection in β-ketoacyl-ACP synthase gene lineages in the sexually deceptive Chiloglottis (Orchidaceace)
journal, February 2019
- Wong, Darren C. J.; Amarasinghe, Ranamalie; Falara, Vasiliki
- Annals of Botany, Vol. 123, Issue 6
Diversification in evolutionary arenas—Assessment and synthesis
journal, May 2020
- Nürk, Nicolai M.; Linder, H. Peter; Onstein, Renske E.
- Ecology and Evolution
The magic of flowers or: speciation genes and where to find them
journal, November 2018
- Schlüter, Philipp M.
- American Journal of Botany, Vol. 105, Issue 12
Floral scent and species divergence in a pair of sexually deceptive orchids
journal, June 2017
- Gervasi, Daniel D. L.; Selosse, Marc-Andre; Sauve, Mathieu
- Ecology and Evolution, Vol. 7, Issue 15
Comparative transcriptomics provides insight into the molecular basis of species diversification of section Trigonopedia (Cypripedium) on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau
journal, August 2018
- Guo, Yan-Yan; Zhang, Yong-Qiang; Zhang, Guo-Qiang
- Scientific Reports, Vol. 8, Issue 1
Molecular mechanisms of adaptation and speciation: why do we need an integrative approach?
journal, May 2016
- Byers, Kelsey J. R. P.; Xu, Shuqing; Schlüter, Philipp M.
- Molecular Ecology, Vol. 26, Issue 1
Identification of (Z)-8-Heptadecene and n-Pentadecane as Electrophysiologically Active Compounds in Ophrys insectifera and Its Argogorytes Pollinator
journal, January 2020
- Bohman, Björn; Weinstein, Alyssa M.; Mozuraitis, Raimondas
- International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Vol. 21, Issue 2