Cultivators and farmers hang pheromone dispersers but these molecules, which are produced by chemical synthesis, are often expensive and release toxic byproducts. The researchers of this study utilized synthetic biology by creating genetic modules that contain the instructions of building new molecules. They introduced a number of molecular switches to regulate expression.
Moreover, in fine tuning the activity of the genes in terms of timing and the level of expression, they used copper sulfate which is cheap and is a readily-available compound approved for agricultural use. Controlling the production of different pheromone components allows the researchers to tweak the cocktail to better suit particular moth species.
