Two different farnesyl diphosphate synthase genes exist in the genome of the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae.

Farnesyl diphosphate synthase (FPS; EC 2.5.1.1, 2.5.1.10) catalyzes biosynthesis of farnesyl diphosphate, which is important to insects as the precursor of juvenile hormone and the substrate for (E)-beta-farnesene synthase. Here, two FPS cDNAs were isolated from the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae (EU334430 and EU334431). Their shared identity within the coding region is approximately 82%. The deduced amino acid sequences of the two M. persicae FPS cDNAs have the highly conserved motifs characteristic of most known FPSs. Phylogenetic analyses showed that they are closely related to other insect FPSs. Homology modeling of structures suggested a very good fit between the three-dimensional structures of the two putative M. persicae FPSs (designated as MpFPS1 and MpFPS2) and the avian FPS crystal structure. The corresponding genomic DNA sequences were subsequently determined (EU429295 and EU429296). Sequence comparisons revealed a different splicing pattern between the two MpFPS genes. Furthermore, the two MpFPS genes exhibited a seemingly very primitive gene-splicing pattern at 5' ends but a gene-splicing style similar to mammalian FPS genes at 3' ends. These data, combined with results of Southern blotting, suggest that M. persicae contains two different FPS genes. This is the first report that two different FPS genes exist in a hemipteran insect.