Evolutionary view of acyl-CoA diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT), a key enzyme in neutral lipid biosynthesis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Triacylglycerides (TAGs) are a class of neutral lipids that represent the most important storage form of energy for eukaryotic cells. DGAT (acyl-CoA: diacylglycerol acyltransferase; EC 2.3.1.20) is a transmembrane enzyme that acts in the final and committed step of TAG synthesis, and it has been proposed to be the rate-limiting enzyme in plant storage lipid accumulation. In fact, two different enzymes identified in several eukaryotic species, DGAT1 and DGAT2, are the main enzymes responsible for TAG synthesis. These enzymes do not share high DNA or protein sequence similarities, and it has been suggested that they play non-redundant roles in different tissues and in some species in TAG synthesis. Despite a number of previous studies on the DGAT1 and DGAT2 genes, which ha

SUBMITTER: Turchetto-Zolet AC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3185287 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature