Disease relevance of ACX4

• A peroxisomal short-chain acyl-CoA oxidase from Arabidopsis was purified following the expression of the Arabidopsis cDNA in a baculovirus expression system [1].

High impact information on ACX4

• Plants produce a unique peroxisomal short chain-specific acyl-CoA oxidase (ACX4) for beta-oxidation of lipids [2].
• A mutant in medium-chain length acyl-CoA activity (acx3) (1) shows a similar phenotype to acx4, and we show here that acx3 seedlings accumulate medium-chain length acyl-CoAs (16.4 mol %) [3].
• However, the acx4 seedlings accumulated high levels (31 mol %) of short-chain acyl-CoAs and showed resistance to 2,4-dichlorophenoxybutyric acid, which is converted to the herbicide and auxin analogue 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid by beta-oxidation [3].
• Cell fractionation and immunocytochemical analysis revealed that the short-chain acyl-CoA oxidase is localized in peroxisomes [1].
• The expression pattern of the short-chain acyl-CoA oxidase was similar to that of peroxisomal 3-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase, a marker enzyme of fatty acid beta-oxidation, during post-germinative growth [1].

Biological context of ACX4

• The acx3 and acx4 mutants were crossed together, and remarkably, the acx3acx4 double mutants aborted during the first phase of embryo development [3].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of ACX4

• Freshly prepared acyl-CoA oxidase 4 crystals diffract to 3.9 angstroms at cryogenic temperature at beamline I711, Max-Lab, but the diffraction quality degenerates after storage for only a few days in the crystallization drop [4].

References