Enzymatic synthesis of a bicyclobutane fatty acid by a hemoprotein lipoxygenase fusion protein from the cyanobacterium Anabaena PCC 7120.

ABSTRACT: Biological transformations of polyunsaturated fatty acids often lead to chemically unstable products, such as the prostaglandin endoperoxides and leukotriene A(4) epoxide of mammalian biology and the allene epoxides of plants. Here, we report on the enzymatic production of a fatty acid containing a highly strained bicyclic four-carbon ring, a moiety known previously only as a model compound for mechanistic studies in chemistry. Starting from linolenic acid (C18.3omega3), a dual function protein from the cyanobacterium Anabaena PCC 7120 forms 9R-hydroperoxy-C18.3omega3 in a lipoxygenase domain, then a catalase-related domain converts the 9R-hydroperoxide to two unstable allylic epoxides. We isolated and identified the major product as 9R,10R-epoxy-11trans-C18.1 containing a bicyclo[1.1.0]bu

SUBMITTER: Schneider C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2141887 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature