Identification of two novel human acyl-CoA wax alcohol acyltransferases: members of the diacylglycerol acyltransferase 2 (DGAT2) gene superfamily. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • The esterification of alcohols such as sterols, diacylglycerols, and monoacylglycerols with fatty acids represents the formation of both storage and cytoprotective molecules. Conversely, the overproduction of these molecules is associated with several disease pathologies, including atherosclerosis and obesity. The human acyl-CoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT) 2 gene superfamily comprises seven members, four of which have been previously implicated in the synthesis of di- or triacylglycerol. The remaining 3 members comprise an X-linked locus and have not been characterized. We describe here the expression of DGAT2 and the three X-linked genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains virtually devoid of neutral lipids. All four gene products mediate the synthesis of triacylglycerol; however, two of the X-linked genes act as acyl-CoA wax alcohol acyltransferases (AWAT 1 and 2) that predominantly esterify long chain (wax) alcohols with acyl-CoA-derived fatty acids to produce wax esters. AWAT1 and AWAT2 have very distinct substrate preferences in terms of alcohol chain length and fatty acyl saturation. The enzymes are expressed in many human tissues but predominate in skin. In situ hybridizations demonstrate a differentiation-specific expression pattern within the human sebaceous gland for the two AWAT genes, consistent with a significant role in the composition of sebum.

authors

  • Turkish, Aaron
  • Henneberry, Annette L
  • Cromley, Debra
  • Padamsee, Mahajabeen
  • Oelkers, Peter
  • Bazzi, Hisham
  • Christiano, Angela M
  • Billheimer, Jeffrey T
  • Sturley, Stephen L

publication date

  • January 25, 2005

Research

keywords

  • Acyltransferases

Identity

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 17644362367

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1074/jbc.M500025200

PubMed ID

  • 15671038

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 280

issue

  • 15