Acyl-ACP

It is worth mentioning that metabolic engineering of E. coli recently provided recombinant strains which synthesized PHAMCL from gluconate. For this, beside phaC2Po or phaClPa> the thioesterase I from E. coli (TesA) [128] or the acyl-ACP thioesterase from Umbellularia californica [129], respectively, were expressed in E. coli. However, the amounts of PHAMCL accumulated in the cells were rather low, and this artificial pathway was not very efficient. 

Modulation of the quantity and/or quality of poly(3HAMCL) synthesized in peroxisomes was also achieved by modifying the endogenous fatty acid biosynthetic pathway [58]. For example, expression of the peroxisomal PHA synthase in an A. thaliana mutant deficient in the synthesis of triunsaturated fatty acids [59] resulted in the synthesis of a PHA having an almost complete absence of triunsaturated 3-hydroxyacid monomers [58]. In a different strategy, expression of a fatty acyl-ACP thio esterase in the plastid was combined with the expression of a peroxisomal PHA synthase [58]. Fatty acyl-ACP thioesterases are... 

It has recently been demonstrated (191) that the nature and location of lipid A primary fatty acids is determined by the specificity of the enzymes UDP-GlcpNAc-G-acyltransferase and UDP-3-6>-[(i )-hydroxyacyl]-GlcpN-N-acyltransferase for acyl - acyl carrier protein (acyl ACP). The analysis of the acyl ACP specificity of these O- and A-acyltransferases should, therefore, constitute a biochemical approach for elucidation of the location of primary fatty acids in lipid A (191). 

Figure 11.4 Condensation, dehydration and reduction reactions in fatty add synthesis. These reactions constitute the major components of the pathway of fatty acid synthesis and are all catalysed by fatty acid synthase. The reduction reactions, indicated by addition of 2H in the diagram, involve the conversion of NADPH to NADP . (The re-conversion of NADP back to NADPH occurs in the pentose phosphate pathway.) The condensation reaction results in an increase in size of acyl-ACP by two carbon units in each step. The two carbons for each extension are each provided by malonyl-CoA. ACP - acyl carrier protein.

The intermediates for the branched chain fatty acid production have been detected in tissues [69], The saturated and desaturated forms of the branched chain acyl-ACP and acyl-CoA are in the same relative amounts as in the final capsaicinoid products, as demonstrated for two different cultivated species, habanero (C. chinense) and jalapeno (C. annuum). From these results the authors indicate that the desaturation step occurs prior to release from the FAS complex. 

Reduces double bond, forming saturated acyl-ACP... 

Production of the four-carbon, saturated fatty acyl-ACP completes one pass through the fatty acid synthase... 

Malonyl-ACP, formed from acetyl-CoA (shuttled out of mitochondria) and C02, condenses with an acetyl bound to the Cys—SH to yield acetoacetyl-ACP, with release of C02. This is followed by reduction to the D-/3-hydroxy derivative, dehydration to the trans-A2-unsaturated acyl-ACP, and reduction to butyryl-ACP. NADPH is the electron donor... 

Acyl-ACP recycled each time. A new 2 C fragment is added to the chain... 

In higher plants, animals, protozoa, and fungi, saturated fatty acids are acted upon by desaturases to introduce double bonds, usually of the cis (Z) configuration. The substrates may be fatty acyl-ACP, fatty acyl-CoA molecules, membrane phospholipids,97 or glycolipids.98 The A9 desaturase, isolated from liver or from yeast, converts stearoyl-CoA to oleoyl-CoA (Eq. 21-3).99-102 This membrane-associated enzyme system... 

As the name anaerobic implies, the double bond of the fatty acid is inserted in the absence of oxygen. Biosynthesis of monounsaturated fatty acids follows the pathway described previously for saturated fatty acids until the intermediate /3-hydroxydecanoyl-ACP is reached (fig. 18.15). At this point, a new enzyme, /3-hydroxydecanoyl-ACP dehydrase, becomes involved. This dehydrase can form the a-j8 trans double bond, and saturated fatty acid synthesis can occur as previously discussed. In addition, this dehydrase is capable of isomerization of the double bond to a cis /3-y double bond as shown in figure 18.15. The /3-y unsaturated fatty acyl-ACP is subsequently elongated by the normal enzymes of fatty acid synthesis to yield pal-mitoleoyl-ACP (16 1A9). The conversion of this compound to the major unsaturated fatty acid of E. coli, cA-vacccnic acid (18 1A11), requires a condensing enzyme that we have not previously discussed, /3-ketoacyl-ACP synthase II, which shows a preference for palmitoleoyl-ACP as a substrate. The subsequent conversion to vaccenyl-ACP is cata-... 

This first round of elongation produces the four-carbon butyryl-ACP. The cycle now repeats with malonyl-ACP adding two-carbon units in each cycle to the lengthening acyl-ACP chain. This continues until the 16-carbon palmitoyl-ACP is formed. This molecule is not accepted by the acyl-malonyl-ACP condensing enzyme, and so cannot be elongated further by this process. Instead it is hydrolyzed by a thioesterase to give palmitate and ACP. 

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