Chain length factor proteins

Type II PKS complexes are comprised at a minimum of four types of subunits encoded by discrete open reading frames acyl carrier protein, ketosynthase a, ketosynthase p (also referred to as chain length factor ), and a malonyl CoA acyltransferase responsible for loading acyl-CoA extender units on to the acyl carrier protein subunit (34 Fig. 4). Additional subunits containing ketoreductase, cyclase, or aromatase activity may also occur in more complex type II synthases. Typically, the four core subunits (acyl carrier protein, ketosynthase a, ketosynthase p, and malonyl-CoA acyltransferase) participate in the iterative series of condensation reactions until a specified polyketide chain length is achieved, then folding and cyclization reactions yielding the final... 

Latest proposal for the biosynthetic pathway to prodigiosin. KS, ketosynthase acyl carrier protein ST, seryl transferase and CLP, chain-length factor. 

Several factors indicate that the amino acids detected in all of these carbonaceous chondrites are indigenous and that they must have originated abiotically. First, the presence of protein and non-protein amino acids, with approximately equal quantities of D and L enantiomers points to a nonbiological origin and precludes terrestrial contamination. In addition, the non-extractable fraction of the Murchison is significantly heavier in 13C than terrestrial samples. Finally, the relative abundances of some compounds detected resemble those of products formed in prebiotic synthesis experiments. The aliphatic hydrocarbons are randomly distributed in chain length, and the C2, C3, and C4 amino acids have the highest concentrations (i.e., the most easily synthesized amino acids with the least number of possible structures are most abundant) [4]. 

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