MOLECULAR SWITCH THAT CONTROLS THE FLUX OF LINOLEIC ACID INTO N-6 OR N-3 POLYUNSATURATED FATTY ACIDS IN MICROORGANISMS
- 1 Jiangnan University, China
- 2 Changzhou Institute of Technology, China
Abstract
Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFA) of the n-6 and n-3 series play important roles in nutrition. Microorganisms are important sources of n-6 and n-3 fatty acids; however, most produce either n-6 or n-3 fatty acids as the major PUFAs and very few produce both. This differential production suggests that PUFAs metabolic pathway is strictly controlled in microorganisms. The major pathway of n-6/n-3 faty acids biosynthesis in lower eukaryotes is composed of △12 Desaturase (Des), ω3 Des (△15, △17), △6 Des, △6 Elongase (Elo), △5 Des, △5 Elo and △4 Des, among which △6 Des and △15 (ω3) Des, located at the branch point of PUFAs metabolic pathways, are key regulators of the flux of linoleic acid (18:2 n-6) into either n-6 or n-3 fatty acid metabolic pathways. These latter two enzymes work together as a molecular switch that control the production of n-6/n-3 fatty acids. However the mechanism of the molecular switch is, so far, not clear. This review summarizes the recent advancement of the molecular base of the differentail production of n-6 or n-3 PUFAs in microorganisms.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3844/ajbbsp.2014.105.115
Copyright: © 2014 Mingxuan Wang, Jianxin Chen, Huaiyuan Zhang and Yuanda Song. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
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Keywords
- Poly Unsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFAs)
- n-6 PUFAs
- n-3 PUFAs
- Metabolic Flux
- Microorganisms