Sphingolipid biosynthesis, inhibition

Wang, E. et ah, Inhibition of sphingolipids biosynthesis by fumonisin, implication for diseases associated with Fusariurn moniliforme, J. Biol. Chem., 266, 14486, 1991. 

Fumonisin inhibition of de novo sphingolipid biosynthesis (Merrill et ah, 2001 Riley et ah, 1996), resulting in depletion of complex glyco-sphingolipids, disruption of lipid rafts, and compromised folate transport via Folrl, which may have significant implications with respect to developmental anomalies such as NTDs (Hansen et ah, 2003 Piedrahita... 

Dagan A, Wang C, Eibach E, Gatt S. Synthetic, non-natural sphingolipid analogs inhibit the biosynthesis of cellular sphingolipids, elevate ceramide and induce apoptotic cell death. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 2003 1633 161-169. 

Wang E, Norred WP, Bacon CW, Riley RT, Merrill Jr AH (1991) Inhibition of Sphingolipid Biosynthesis by Fumonisins. J Biol Chem 266 14486... 

Conformational restriction of biologically flexible molecules is a successful strategy in drug development. Application of this concept to ceramide, the membrane anchor of sphingolipids, led to the unexpected inhibition of glycosyltransferases involved in the combinatorial biosynthesis of gangliosides. This discovery offers a new approach to cell surface engineering. 

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