In the present study the effects of some C18 fatty acids on hepatic fatty acid metabolism have been compared. Male rats were fed cholesterol-free diets containing either C18:0, C18:1 cis or C18:1 trans isomers as the variables. In accordance with previous work, oleic acid in the diet caused an increase in cholesterol concentration in the liver and in the lipoprotein fraction of density (d; kg/l...

Nonoxidative alcohol metabolism catalyzed by fatty acid ethyl ester (FAEE) synthases may contribute to extrahepatic injury resulting from alcohol abuse. Unlike rabbit myocardial FAEE synthase, that from human heart has a satellite minor synthase (I) eluting from DEAE cellulose at a conductivity of 5 mS. Synthase I was purified 1,118-fold to homogeneity by sequential gel permeation, hydrophobic ...

As the serious effects of global climate change become apparent and access to fossil fuels becomes more limited, metabolic engineers and synthetic biologists are looking towards greener sources for transportation fuels. In recent years, microbial production of high-energy fuels by economically efficient bioprocesses has emerged as an attractive alternative to the traditional production of trans...

Therapies that target tumor metabolism represent a new horizon in anticancer therapies. In particular, cancer cells are dependent on the generation of lipids, which are essential for cell membrane synthesis, modification of proteins, and localization of many oncogenic signal transduction enzymes. Because fatty acids are the building blocks of these important lipids, fatty acid synthase (FASN) e...

We have used a yeast two-hybrid approach to detect direct protein interactions between fatty acid synthase components. Enoyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) reductase was found to interact with stearoyl-ACP desaturase and acyl-ACP thioesterase, but none of these proteins interacted with ACP in the yeast nucleus.