Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan
Yumi Yamahama
Department of Biology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Shizuoka, Japan
Migaku Kawaguchi
National Metrology Institute of Japan (NMIJ), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan
Naoki Mori
Division of Applied Life Sciences, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
Daisuke Ishii
Department of Life Science and Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Nagoya, Japan
Genta Okude
Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan; Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Yuji Hirai
Applied Chemistry and Bioscience, Chitose Institute of Science and Technology, Chitose, Japan
Ryouka Kawahara-Miki
NODAI Genome Research Center, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo, Japan
Kazutoshi Yoshitake
Laboratory of Aquatic Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Shunsuke Yajima
NODAI Genome Research Center, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo, Japan; Department of Bioscience, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo, Japan
Takahiko Hariyama
Department of Biology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Shizuoka, Japan
Takema Fukatsu
Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan; Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan
Many animals change their body color for visual signaling and environmental adaptation. Some dragonflies show wax-based color change and ultraviolet (UV) reflection, but the biochemical properties underlying the phenomena are totally unknown. Here we investigated the UV-reflective abdominal wax of dragonflies, thereby identifying very long-chain methyl ketones and aldehydes as unique and major wax components. Little wax was detected on young adults, but dense wax secretion was found mainly on the dorsal abdomen of mature males of Orthetrum albistylum and O. melania, and pruinose wax secretion was identified on the ventral abdomen of mature females of O. albistylum and Sympetrum darwinianum. Comparative transcriptomics demonstrated drastic upregulation of the ELOVL17 gene, a member of the fatty acid elongase gene family, whose expression reflected the distribution of very long-chain methyl ketones. Synthetic 2-pentacosanone, the major component of dragonfly’s wax, spontaneously formed light-scattering scale-like fine structures with strong UV reflection, suggesting its potential utility for biomimetics.
