| Title: |
O-acyltransferase genes involved in the production of volatile sex pheromones in Caenorhabditis elegans |
| Authors: |
Wan, Xuan; Cohen, Sarah M.; Yu, Yan; Hoan Le, Henry; Park, Heenam; Groaz, Alessandro; Moreno, Rachel; Tan, Minyi; Schneider, Jessica; Gronquist, Matthew R.; Shinya, Ryoji; Schroeder, Frank C.; Sternberg, Paul W. |
| Source: |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 123(2), e2524778123, (2026-01-07) |
| Publisher Information: |
National Academy of Sciences |
| Publication Year: |
2026 |
| Collection: |
Caltech Authors (California Institute of Technology) |
| Subject Terms: |
gene families; pheromone biosynthesis; behavior |
| Description: |
Gene family expansions are critical for functional diversification, yet the contributions of paralogs to metabolic pathways are often unclear. In Caenorhabditis , the expanded O-acyltransferase (OAC) family—enzymes that transfer acyl groups to hydroxylated substrates—remains poorly characterized despite having been implicated in lipid metabolism. Using CRISPR-Cas9 mutagenesis, behavioral assays, gas chromatographic-mass spectral (GC-MS) analyses, and metabolomics, we systematically analyzed 59 OAC-family protein-coding genes to define their roles in regulating signaling molecules. We found that four adjacent paralogs ( oac-13, oac-16, oac-25, and oac-28 ) on chromosome I are required for synthesizing volatile sex pheromones—airborne signals critical for male mate-searching. Specifically, oac -13 and oac-16 are necessary for producing both major pheromone components, while the identical tandem paralogs oac-25 and oac-28 regulate the production of the later-eluting component in gas chromatography. Disruption of these genes reduced production of key pheromone components and impaired male attraction. Metabolomics revealed that oac-16 and other OACs also modulate the synthesis and secretion of nonvolatile ascaroside pheromones, indicating dual roles in chemical signaling. This work uncovers functional specialization within an expanded gene family, illustrating how redundancy and divergence enable adaptive evolution of communication systems. ; Copyright © 2026 the Author(s). Published by PNAS. This open access article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY). ; We acknowledge Nathan F. Dalleska and the Caltech Resnick Water and Environment Lab for the GC-MS analysis, and King L. Chow and the HKUST Environmental Central Facility for the initial GC-MS study. Portions of the present work were previously part of the PhD thesis of coauthor S.M.C. We thank Joshua N. Muller for assisting with the imaging process. We also thank Erich Schwarz and Jae Cho for their assistance with WormBase data ... |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| Language: |
English |
| Relation: |
https://authors.library.caltech.edu/communities/caltechauthors/; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2524778123; https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41499404/ |
| DOI: |
10.1073/pnas.2524778123 |
| Availability: |
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2524778123; https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41499404/ |
| Rights: |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess ; Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International ; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.C8701072 |
| Database: |
BASE |