scholarly journals Modifying the yeast very long chain fatty acid biosynthetic machinery by the expression of plant 3-ketoacyl CoA synthase isozymes

Author(s):  
Kenna Stenback ◽  
Kayla Flyckt ◽  
Trang Hoang ◽  
Alexis Campbell ◽  
Basil Nikolau

Abstract Eukaryotes express a multi-component fatty acid elongase to produce very long chain fatty acids (VLCFAs), which are building blocks of diverse lipids. Elongation is achieved by cyclical iteration of four reactions, the first of which generates a new carbon-carbon bond, elongating the acyl-chain. This reaction is catalyzed by either ELONGATION DEFECTIVE LIKE (ELO) or 3-ketoacyl-CoA synthase (KCS) enzymes. Whereas plants express both ELO and KCS enzymes, other eukaryotes express only ELOs. We explored the KCS and ELO enzymatic redundancies by expressing the former in yeast strains that lacked endogenous ELO isozymes. Expression of the 26 maize KCS isozymes in wild-type, scelo2 or scelo3 single mutants did not affect VLCFA profiles. However, five of these KCSs were capable of complementing the lethal scelo2; scelo3 double mutant. These rescued strains express novel VLCFA profiles reflecting the different catalytic capabilities of the KCS isozymes. These novel strains offer a platform to explore the relationship between VLCFA profiles and cellular physiology.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Di Carlo ◽  
Bebiana C. Sousa ◽  
Marcello Manfredi ◽  
Jessica Brandi ◽  
Elisa Dalla Pozza ◽  
...  

AbstractPancreatic cancer stem cells (PCSCs) play a key role in the aggressiveness of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDAC); however, little is known about their signaling and metabolic pathways. Here we show that PCSCs have specific and common proteome and lipidome modulations. PCSCs displayed downregulation of lactate dehydrogenase A chain, and upregulation of trifunctional enzyme subunit alpha. The upregulated proteins of PCSCs are mainly involved in fatty acid (FA) elongation and biosynthesis of unsaturated FAs. Accordingly, lipidomics reveals an increase in long and very long-chain unsaturated FAs, which are products of fatty acid elongase-5 predicted as a key gene. Moreover, lipidomics showed the induction in PCSCs of molecular species of cardiolipin with mixed incorporation of 16:0, 18:1, and 18:2 acyl chains. Our data indicate a crucial role of FA elongation and alteration in cardiolipin acyl chain composition in PCSCs, representing attractive therapeutic targets in PDAC.


Genes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 343
Author(s):  
Andrea Diociaiuti ◽  
Diego Martinelli ◽  
Francesco Nicita ◽  
Claudia Cesario ◽  
Elisa Pisaneschi ◽  
...  

Elongation of Very Long Chain Fatty Acid-4 (ELOVL4) is a fatty acid elongase responsible for very long-chain fatty acid biosynthesis in the brain, retina, and skin. Heterozygous mutations in ELOVL4 gene cause Stargardt-like macular dystrophy and spinocerebellar ataxia type-34, while different homozygous mutations have been associated with ichthyosis, spastic quadriplegia, and mental retardation syndrome in three kindred. We report the first two Italian children affected with neuro-ichthyosis due to the previously undescribed ELOVL4 homozygous frameshift variant c.435dupT (p.Ile146TyrfsTer29), and compound heterozygous variants c.208C>T (p.Arg70Ter) and c.487T>C (p.Cys163Arg), respectively. Both patients were born with collodion membrane followed by development of diffuse mild hyperkeratosis and scaling, localized erythema, and palmoplantar keratoderma. One infant displayed mild facial dysmorphism. They suffered from failure to thrive, and severe gastro-esophageal reflux with pulmonary aspiration. The patients presented axial hypotonia, hypertonia of limbs, and absent head control with poor eye contact from infancy. Visual evoked potentials showed markedly increased latency and poor morphological definition, indicative of alteration of the retro-retinal visual pathways in both patients. Ultrastructural skin examination revealed abnormalities of lamellar bodies with altered release in the epidermal granular and horny layer intracellular spaces. Our findings contribute to expanding the phenotypic and genotypic features of ELOVL4-related neuro-ichthyosis.


2019 ◽  
Vol 89 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 62-72
Author(s):  
Mooli Raja Gopal Reddy ◽  
Gundluri Venkata Asha ◽  
Sravan Kumar Manchiryala ◽  
Uday Kumar Putcha ◽  
Ayyalasomayajula Vajreswari ◽  
...  

Abstract. The liver is the main site of lipid metabolism and vitamin A storage. Dietary factors are known to affect liver function, thereby leading to metabolic abnormalities. Here, we assessed the impact of long-term feeding of a high-fat diet on hepatic vitamin A status and lipid metabolism. For this purpose, 14 male and 14 female 35-day-old mice (strain C57BL/6J) were each divided into 2 groups of 7 animals and fed either a stock diet or a high-fat (HF) diet for 26 weeks. In addition to increased body weight/weight gain, the HF diet induced hypertriglyceridemia in both (p < 0.01). However, liver triglyceride levels were comparable among groups, which could be partly explained by unaltered expression of various lipogenic pathway proteins such as sterol regulatory element binding protein 1 (SREBP1), fatty acid synthase (FAS), microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTTP), and glycerol 3-phosphate acyl transferase (GPAT). On the other hand, hepatic retinol stores increased significantly in both sexes, whereas males displayed elevated circulatory retinol levels. Notably, long-term feeding of a HF diet elevated n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, C22:6) levels in the liver (p ≤ 0.001), which is in line with the over-expression of very long-chain fatty acid elongase 2 (ELOVL2) protein in both sexes of mice (p < 0.01). In conclusion, very long-term feeding of a HF diet increased hepatic retinol stores and induced hypertriglyceridemia. However, it had no effect on hepatic triglyceride accumulation, possibly due to increased DHA levels arising from the ELOVL2-mediated elongation pathway.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng Wang ◽  
Yuxi Dai ◽  
Xufeng Zhu ◽  
Qilong Chen ◽  
Huanhu Zhu ◽  
...  

AbstractThe contents of numerous membrane lipids change upon ageing. However, it is unknown whether and how any of these changes are causally linked to lifespan regulation. Acyl chains contribute to the functional specificity of membrane lipids. In this study, working with C. elegans, we identified an acyl chain-specific sphingolipid, C22 glucosylceramide, as a longevity metabolite. Germline deficiency, a conserved lifespan-extending paradigm, induces somatic expression of the fatty acid elongase ELO-3, and behenic acid (22:0) generated by ELO-3 is incorporated into glucosylceramide for lifespan regulation. Mechanistically, C22 glucosylceramide is required for the membrane localization of clathrin, a protein that regulates membrane budding. The reduction in C22 glucosylceramide impairs the clathrin-dependent autophagic lysosome reformation, which subsequently leads to TOR activation and longevity suppression. These findings reveal a mechanistic link between membrane lipids and ageing and suggest a model of lifespan regulation by fatty acid-mediated membrane configuration.


2002 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 4414-4428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marlis Eisenkolb ◽  
Christoph Zenzmaier ◽  
Erich Leitner ◽  
Roger Schneiter

Fungal sphingolipids contain ceramide with a very-long-chain fatty acid (C26). To investigate the physiological significance of the C26-substitution on this lipid, we performed a screen for mutants that are synthetically lethal with ELO3. Elo3p is a component of the ER-associated fatty acid elongase and is required for the final elongation cycle to produce C26 from C22/C24 fatty acids.elo3Δ mutant cells thus contain C22/C24- instead of the natural C26-substituted ceramide. We now report that under these conditions, an otherwise nonessential, but also fungal-specific, structural modification of the major sterol of yeast, ergosterol, becomes essential, because mutations in ELO3 are synthetically lethal with mutations in ERG6. Erg6p catalyzes the methylation of carbon atom 24 in the aliphatic side chain of sterol. The lethality of an elo3Δ erg6Δ double mutant is rescued by supplementation with ergosterol but not with cholesterol, indicating a vital structural requirement for the ergosterol-specific methyl group. To characterize this structural requirement in more detail, we generated a strain that is temperature sensitive for the function of Erg6p in an elo3Δ mutant background. Examination of raft association of the GPI-anchored Gas1p and plasma membrane ATPase, Pma1p, in the conditional elo3Δ erg6 ts double mutant, revealed a specific defect of the mutant to maintain raft association of preexisting Pma1p. Interestingly, in an elo3Δ mutant at 37°C, newly synthesized Pma1p failed to enter raft domains early in the biosynthetic pathway, and upon arrival at the plasma membrane was rerouted to the vacuole for degradation. These observations indicate that the C26 fatty acid substitution on lipids is important for establishing raft association of Pma1p and stabilizing the protein at the cell surface. Analysis of raft lipids in the conditional mutant strain revealed a selective enrichment of ergosterol in detergent-resistant membrane domains, indicating that specific structural determinants on both sterols and sphingolipids are required for their association into raft domains.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document