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Hoffmann, R. A wiki for the life sciences where authorship matters. Nature Genetics (2008)
 
 
 
 
 

Mutagenesis of rat acyl-CoA synthetase 4 indicates amino acids that contribute to fatty acid binding.

Although each of the five mammalian long-chain acyl-CoA synthetases (ACSL) can bind saturated and unsaturated fatty acids ranging from 12 to 22 carbons, ACSL4 prefers longer chain polyunsaturated fatty acids. In order to gain a better understanding of ACSL4 fatty acid binding, we based a mutagenesis approach on sequence alignments related to ttLC-FACS crystallized from Thermus thermophilus HB8. Four residues selected for mutagenesis corresponded to residues in ttLC-FACS that comprise the fatty acid binding pocket; the fifth residue aligned with a region thought to be involved in fatty acid selectivity of the Escherichia coli acyl-CoA synthetase, FadD. Changing an amino acid at the entry of the putative fatty acid binding pocket, G401L, resulted in an inactive enzyme. Mutating a residue near the pocket entry, L399M, did not significantly alter enzyme activity, but mutating a residue at the hydrophobic terminus of the pocket, S291Y, altered ACSL4's preference for 20:5 and 22:6 and increased its apparent K(m) for ATP. Mutating a site in a region previously identified as important for fatty acid binding also altered activation of 20:4 and 20:5. These studies suggested that the preference of ACSL4 for long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids can be modified by altering specific amino acid residues.[1]

References

  1. Mutagenesis of rat acyl-CoA synthetase 4 indicates amino acids that contribute to fatty acid binding. Stinnett, L., Lewin, T.M., Coleman, R.A. Biochim. Biophys. Acta (2007) [Pubmed]
 
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