欧洲玉米螟已成为研究性交流的遗传学及性信号在物种形成中所起作用的一个模型体系，部分是因为它由两种性信息素组成，这两种性信息素利用醋酸盐信息素成分的不同比例的顺式异构体和反式异构体，导致强烈生殖隔离——这可能是物种形成的第一步。
实践证明，雌性信息素生成及雄性行为反应的基因控制之谜难以揭开，但现在，信息素种类差异中所涉及的一个基因已被识别出来。信息素生物合成所必需的一个脂肪酰还原酶基因发生的变异，可以解释雌性信息素生成中的表现型变异，这种变异导致（信息素）种类特异性信号。
这表明，单一一种酶的编码区域中取代的积累会在信息素的混合物种产生差异，这些差异之大足以导致生殖隔离。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原文出处：
Nature doi:10.1038/nature09058
Allelic variation in a fatty-acyl reductase gene causes divergence in moth sex pheromones
Jean-Marc Lassance,Astrid T. Groot,Marjorie A. Liénard,Binu Antony,Christin Borgwardt,Fredrik Andersson,Erik Hedenstr?m,David G. Heckel& Christer L?fstedt
Pheromone-based behaviours are crucial in animals from insects to mammals1, 2, and reproductive isolation is often based on pheromone differences1, 2, 3, 4. However, the genetic mechanisms by which pheromone signals change during the evolution of new species are largely unknown4. In the sexual communication system of moths (Insecta: Lepidoptera), females emit a species-specific pheromone blend that attracts males over long distances1, 2, 4. The European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis, consists of two sex pheromone races, Z and E, that use different ratios of the cis and trans isomers of acetate pheromone components5. This subtle difference leads to strong reproductive isolation in the field between the two races6, 7, which could represent a first step in speciation. Female sex pheromone production and male behavioural response are under the control of different major genes8, 9, but the identity of these genes is unknown. Here we show that allelic variation in a fatty-acyl reductase gene essential for pheromone biosynthesis accounts for the phenotypic variation in female pheromone production, leading to race-specific signals. Both the cis and trans isomers of the pheromone precursors are produced by both races, but the precursors are differentially reduced to yield opposite ratios in the final pheromone blend as a result of the substrate specificity of the enzymes encoded by the Z and E alleles. This is the first functional characterization of a gene contributing to intraspecific behavioural reproductive isolation in moths, highlighting the importance of evolutionary diversification in a lepidopteran-specific family of reductases. Accumulation of substitutions in the coding region of a single biosynthetic enzyme can produce pheromone differences resulting in reproductive isolation, with speciation as a potential end result.
