Lepidoptera desaturases

These acids are very important in human nutrition.1193 1 (See also Box 21-B.) In the absence of adequate essential fatty acids oleate is desaturated and elongated in a similar sequence to the unusual 20 3 (A5 8 11 co9) acid. Vertebrate tissues also carry out desaturation at the A4 and A3 positions.111 Lepidoptera, which synthesize a great diversity of pheromones, are rich in unusual desaturases such as the gland-specific acyl-CoA A11 desaturase of cabbage looper moths.120... 

Rodriguez F., Hallahan D. L., Pickett J. A. and Camps F. (1992) Characterization of the delta-11 palmitoyl-CoA-desaturase from Spodoptera littoralis (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae). Insect Biochem. Molec. Biol. 22, 143-148. 

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