A fatty-acid synthesis mechanism specialized for parasitism

Soo Hee Lee; Jennifer L. Stephens; Paul T. Englund

doi:10.1038/nrmicro1617

A fatty-acid synthesis mechanism specialized for parasitism

Soo Hee Lee, Jennifer L. Stephens, Paul T. Englund

School of Medicine

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

Abstract

Most cells use either a type I or type II synthase to make fatty acids. Trypanosoma brucei, the sleeping sickness parasite, provides the first example of a third mechanism for this process. Trypanosomes use microsomal elongases to synthesize fatty acids de novo, whereas other cells use elongases to make long-chain fatty acids even longer. The modular nature of the pathway allows synthesis of different fatty-acid end products, which have important roles in trypanosome biology. Indeed, this newly discovered mechanism seems ideally suited for the parasitic lifestyle.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	287-297
Number of pages	11
Journal	Nature Reviews Microbiology
Volume	5
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro1617
State	Published - Apr 2007

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Microbiology
Immunology and Microbiology(all)
Infectious Diseases

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title = "A fatty-acid synthesis mechanism specialized for parasitism",

abstract = "Most cells use either a type I or type II synthase to make fatty acids. Trypanosoma brucei, the sleeping sickness parasite, provides the first example of a third mechanism for this process. Trypanosomes use microsomal elongases to synthesize fatty acids de novo, whereas other cells use elongases to make long-chain fatty acids even longer. The modular nature of the pathway allows synthesis of different fatty-acid end products, which have important roles in trypanosome biology. Indeed, this newly discovered mechanism seems ideally suited for the parasitic lifestyle.",

author = "{Hee Lee}, Soo and Stephens, {Jennifer L.} and Englund, {Paul T.}",

note = "Funding Information: We would like to thank S. Beverley, R. Gazzinelli, D. Hanasekaran, J. Lukes, Y. Morita, K. Paul, J. Pevsner, S. Prigge, D. Roos, J. Samuelson and S. Subramanian for discussions. We would also like to thank R. Gazzinelli and A. Uttaro for sharing unpublished manuscripts. We are grateful to G. Yildirir and other members of our laboratory for support. Work in the authors{\textquoteright} laboratory has been supported by a grant from the US National Institutes of Health. Copyright: Copyright 2009 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.",

year = "2007",

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doi = "10.1038/nrmicro1617",

language = "English (US)",

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N2 - Most cells use either a type I or type II synthase to make fatty acids. Trypanosoma brucei, the sleeping sickness parasite, provides the first example of a third mechanism for this process. Trypanosomes use microsomal elongases to synthesize fatty acids de novo, whereas other cells use elongases to make long-chain fatty acids even longer. The modular nature of the pathway allows synthesis of different fatty-acid end products, which have important roles in trypanosome biology. Indeed, this newly discovered mechanism seems ideally suited for the parasitic lifestyle.

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A fatty-acid synthesis mechanism specialized for parasitism

Abstract

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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