Long-chain-alcohol O-fatty-acyltransferase
| long-chain-alcohol O-fatty-acyltransferase | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Identifiers | |||||||||
ExPASy | NiceZyme view | ||||||||
| KEGG | KEGG entry | ||||||||
| MetaCyc | metabolic pathway | ||||||||
| PRIAM | profile | ||||||||
| PDB structures | RCSB PDB PDBe PDBsum | ||||||||
| Gene Ontology | AmiGO / QuickGO | ||||||||
| |||||||||
In
- acyl-CoA + a long-chain alcohol CoA + a long-chain ester
Thus, the two
.This enzyme belongs to the family of transferases, specifically those acyltransferases transferring groups other than aminoacyl groups. The systematic name of this enzyme class is acyl-CoA:long-chain-alcohol O-acyltransferase. Other names in common use include wax synthase, and wax-ester synthase. In general, wax syntheses naturally accept acyl groups with carbon chain lengths of C16 or C18 and linear alcohols with carbon chain lengths ranging from C12 to C20. [1]
Variation
There are three unrelated families of wax syntheses found in many organisms including bacteria, higher plants, and animals
Prokaryotic bacteria
Acinetobacter
There are frequent reports of wax esters biosynthesis in bacteria of the Acinetobacter genus. In particular, it has been shown that the Acinetobacter calcoaceticus ADP1 strain synthesizes wax esters through a bifunctional wax ester synthase/acyl-CoA: diacylglycerol acyltransferase (WS/DGAT) and that this complex can be functionally expressed in different bacterial hosts, suggesting the potential for potential microbial production of cheap jojoba-like wax esters.[4] Furthermore, this was the first instance of bacterial WS/DGAT discovered.[3] Finally, Acinetobacter has been considered as an alternative source for jojoba-like wax ester production, but is limited by the fact that its wax ester content never exceeds 14% of the cell's dry weight.[5]
Rhodococcus jostii RHA1
Scientists have identified at least 14 genes in the Rhodococcus jostii RHA1 genome that encode putative wax ester synthase/acyl-CoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferase enzymes (WS/DGAT) with lengths ranging from 430 to 497 amino acid residues except for atf121 product, which was composed of 301 amino acid residues.[6][7]
Other bacteria that have been shown to produce wax esters through homologs for the WS/DGAT gene include Psychrobacter arcticus 273-4 and P. Cryohalolentis K5, with only one a single copy of the WS/DGAT gene, M. aquaeolei VT8, with 4 homologs for WS/DGAT and A. Baylyi, with a mixture of wax esters even though it only has one WS/DGAT coding gene.[4] "M. tuberculosis" has also been shown to contain 15 atf genes encoding WS/DGATs.[8] Several of these bacterial WS/DGAT enzymes have a broad substrate range despite naturally producing a small range of wax esters.[9][10][11]
Plants
Arabidopsis thaliana
Scientists have also identified, characterized, and shown the WSD1 gene in Arabidopsis thaliana to encode a bifunctional wax ester synthase/diacylglycerol acyltransferase enzyme that is embedded in the ER membrane, in which the wax synthase portion is critical to wax ester synthesis using long-chain and very-long-chain primary alcohols with C fatty acids.[12]
Jojoba
Although the first wax synthase in plants was identified in the
Animals
Birds
The enzyme products of genes AdWS4, TaWS4, GgWS1, GgWS2, GgWS4, and GgDGAT1 sequences have been shown to catalyze wax ester syntheses in several bird species.[14]
Mammals
Scientists have discovered
Humans
The enzymes produced by X-linked genes AWAT1 and AWAT2 have been shown to esterify long chain alcohols to produce
Enzyme structure
While the function of the molecule has been studied, its structure has yet to be identified.
Industrial relevance
There is a large demand for large-scale production of cheap jojoba-like wax esters since they have multiple commercial uses.
In addition, the knowledge gathered so far on the substrate specificity of different forms of wax synthase allows for scientists to explore the use of yeast cells, in particular
References
- Wu, X-Y, Moreau RA, Stumpf PK (1981). "Studies of biosynthesis of waxes by developing jojoba seed. 3 Biosynthesis of wax esters from acyl-CoA and long-chain alcohols". Lipids. 16 (12): 897–902. S2CID 34662644.
