BACKGROUND Hypothalamic AMPK acts as a cell energy sensor and can modulate food intake, glucose homeostasis, and fatty acid biosynthesis. Intrahypothalamic fatty acid injection is known to suppress liver glucose production, mainly by activation of hypothalamic ATP-sensitive potassium (K(ATP)) channels. Since all models employed seem to involve malonyl-CoA biosynthesis, we hypothesized that acet...

Treatment of rat epididymal adipose tissue with insulin for a few minutes leads to a substantial increase in the rate of fatty acid synthesis, which is explained in part by rapid activation of the cytoplasmic enzyme acetyl-CoA carboxylase (Denton, 1975; Denton et al., 1977; Brownsey & Denton, 1979). The effects of insulin on fatty acid synthesis are opposed by adrenaline, but the changes in kin...

Autotrophic members of the Sulfolobales (Crenarchaeota) contain acetyl-coenzyme A (CoA)/propionyl-CoA carboxylase as the CO2 fixation enzyme and use a modified 3-hydroxypropionate cycle to assimilate CO2 into cell material. In this central metabolic pathway malonyl-CoA, the product of acetyl-CoA carboxylation, is further reduced to 3-hydroxypropionate. Extracts of Metallosphaera sedula containe...

The abnormal accumulation of lipids due to myo-inositol deficiency in Saccharomyces carlsbergensis, and the mechanism involved was investigated. The deficient cells contained much more neutral lipids with a greater ratio of unsaturated fatty acids compared to the supplemented cells, whereas there was no significant change in their phospholipid contents. The biosynthesis of fatty acids and stero...

Mycobacterium tuberculosis contains multiple versions of the accA and accD genes that encode the alpha- and beta-subunits of at least three distinct multi-functional acyl-CoA carboxylase complexes. Because of its proposed involvement in pathogenic M. tuberculosis survival, the high-resolution crystal structure of the beta-subunit gene accD5 product has been determined and reveals a hexameric 35...

The abnormal accumulation of lipids due to myo-inositol deficiency in Saccharomyces carlsbergensis, and the mechanism involved was investigated. The deficient cells contained much more neutral lipids with a greater ratio of unsaturated fatty acids compared to the supplemented cells, whereas there was no significant change in their phospholipid contents. The biosynthesis of fatty acids and stero...

Malonyl-CoA is the precursor for fatty acid synthesis and elongation. It is also one of the building blocks for the biosynthesis of some phytoalexins, flavonoids, and many malonylated compounds. In plants as well as in animals, malonyl-CoA is almost exclusively derived from acetyl-CoA by acetyl-CoA carboxylase (EC 6.4.1.2). However, previous studies have suggested that malonyl-CoA may also be m...

Aspergillus nidulans is able to use Leu as the sole carbon source through a metabolic pathway leading to acetyl-CoA and acetoacetate that is homologous to that used by humans. mccA and mccB, the genes encoding the subunits of 3-methylcrotonyl-CoA carboxylase, are clustered with ivdA encoding isovaleryl-CoA dehydrogenase, a third gene of the Leu catabolic pathway, on the left arm of chromosome I...