Desaturation of [1-r4C]stearic acid, [lJ4C]palmitic acid, and [l-14C]stearoyl-CoA was measured in homogenates of lo-day-old rat brain. Desaturation was maximal with stearoyl-CoA at pH 6.0 to 6.6. With free fatty acids, monoene formation was maximal at pH 7.2 to 7.6; stearic acid was more actively desaturated than palmitic acid. Activity with stearic acid or stearoyl-CoA was linear with protein ...

Desaturation of [1-r4C]stearic acid, [lJ4C]palmitic acid, and [l-14C]stearoyl-CoA was measured in homogenates of lo-day-old rat brain. Desaturation was maximal with stearoyl-CoA at pH 6.0 to 6.6. With free fatty acids, monoene formation was maximal at pH 7.2 to 7.6; stearic acid was more actively desaturated than palmitic acid. Activity with stearic acid or stearoyl-CoA was linear with protein ...

Long-chain acyl-CoA reductases (ACRs) catalyze a key step in the biosynthesis of hydrocarbon waxes. As such they are attractive as components in engineered metabolic pathways for 'drop in' biofuels. Most ACR enzymes are integral membrane proteins, but a cytosolic ACR was recently discovered in cyanobacteria. The ACR from Synechococcus elongatus was overexpressed in Escherichia coli, purified an...

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) has shown a wide range of biologically beneficial effects; reduction of incidence and severity of animal carcinogenesis, reduction of the adverse effects of immune stimulation, reduction of severity of atherosclerosis, growth promotion in young rats, and modulation of stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD). One of the most interesting aspects of CLA is its ability to reduc...

Vibrational spectroscopic investigations of hydrocarbon chain ordering in phosphatidylcholines (PCs) adsorbed from aqueous solution to a carbon tetrachloride-water interface presented here examine on a molecular level the organization pertinent to the surface characteristics displayed by these films. In a series of saturated symmetric and asymmetric chain PCs, both symmetric PCs with 16 or fewe...

In vitro fatty acid synthesis was examined in crude cell extracts, soluble fractions, and 80% (NH(4))(2)SO(4) fractions from Anabaena variabilis M3. Fatty acid synthesis was absolutely dependent upon acyl carrier protein and required NADPH and NADH. Moreover, fatty acid synthesis and elongation occurred in the cytoplasm of the cell. The major fatty acid products were palmitic acid (16:0) and st...

BACKGROUND Stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD) is a key enzyme that converts saturated fatty acids (SFAs) to monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) in fat biosynthesis. Despite being crucial for interpreting SCDs' roles across species, the evolutionary relationship of SCD proteins across species has yet to be elucidated. This study aims to present this evolutionary relationship based on amino acid seque...

A gene for the delta9 desaturase specific to stearoyl-ACP (acyl carrier protein) was identified from yellow lupine (Lupinus luteus) cDNA and genomic libraries through the differential display method. The desaturase transcript appears in plants infected with Bradyrhizobium sp. (Lupinus) as revealed by Northern hybridization, RT-PCR and expression of beta-glucuronidase under the desaturase promot...

1. The specific radioactivities of individual molecular species of phosphoglycerides in the skeletal muscles of control rats and of rats deficient in essential fatty acids have been determined 3 h after intraperitoneal injection of ortho[32P] phosphate. 2. It has been demonstrated that the high average specific radioactivity of phosphoglycerides in muscles of rats deficient in essential fatty a...