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Brain white matter development is associated with a human-specific haplotype increasing the synthesis of long chain fatty acids.

ABSTRACT: The genetic and molecular pathways driving human brain white matter (WM) development are only beginning to be discovered. Long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) have been implicated in myelination in animal models and humans. The biosynthesis of LC-PUFAs is regulated by the fatty acid desaturase (FADS) genes, of which a human-specific haplotype is strongly associated with ?-3 and ?-6 LC-PUFA concentrations in blood. To investigate the relationship between LC-PUFA synthesis and human brain WM development, we examined whether this FADS haplotype is associated with age-related WM differences across the life span in healthy individuals 9-86 years of age (n = 207). Diffusion tensor imaging was performed to measure fractional anisotropy (FA), a putative measure of myelination, of the cerebral WM tracts. FADS haplotype status was determined with a single nucleotide polymorphism (rs174583) that tags this haplotype. Overall, normal age-related WM differences were observed, including higher FA values in early adulthood compared with childhood, followed by lower FA values across older age ranges. However, individuals homozygous for the minor allele (associated with lower LC-PUFA concentrations) did not display these normal age-related WM differences (significant age × genotype interactions, p(corrected) < 0.05). These findings suggest that LC-PUFAs are involved in human brain WM development from childhood into adulthood. This haplotype and LC-PUFAs may play a role in myelin-related disorders of neurodevelopmental origin.

SUBMITTER: Peters BD

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4004819 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Brain white matter development is associated with a human-specific haplotype increasing the synthesis of long chain fatty acids.

Peters Bart D BD Voineskos Aristotle N AN Szeszko Philip R PR Lett Tristram A TA DeRosse Pamela P Guha Saurav S Karlsgodt Katherine H KH Ikuta Toshikazu T Felsky Daniel D John Majnu M Rotenberg David J DJ Kennedy James L JL Lencz Todd T Malhotra Anil K AK

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience 20140401 18

The genetic and molecular pathways driving human brain white matter (WM) development are only beginning to be discovered. Long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) have been implicated in myelination in animal models and humans. The biosynthesis of LC-PUFAs is regulated by the fatty acid desaturase (FADS) genes, of which a human-specific haplotype is strongly associated with ω-3 and ω-6 LC-PUFA concentrations in blood. To investigate the relationship between LC-PUFA synthesis and human b ...[more]

PMID: 24790207

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Project description:Concerns about global warming, fossil-fuel depletion, food security, and human health have promoted metabolic engineers to develop tools/strategies to overproduce microbial functional oils directly from renewable resources. Medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs, C8-C12) have been shown to be important sources due to their diverse biotechnological importance, providing benefits ranging from functional lipids to uses in bio-fuel production. However, oleaginous microbes do not carry native pathways for the production of MCFAs, and therefore, diverse approaches have been adapted to compensate for the requirements of industrial demand. Mucor circinelloides is a promising organism for lipid production (15-36% cell dry weight; CDW) and the investigation of mechanisms of lipid accumulation; however, it mostly produces long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs). To address this challenge, we genetically modified strain M. circinelloides MU758, first by integrating heterologous acyl-ACP thioesterase (TE) into fatty acid synthase (FAS) complex and subsequently by modifying the β-oxidation pathway by disrupting the acyl-CoA oxidase (ACOX) and/or acyl-CoA thioesterase (ACOT) genes with a preference for medium-chain acyl-CoAs, to elevate the yield of MCFAs. The resultant mutant strains (M-1, M-2, and M-3, respectively) showed a significant increase in lipid production in comparison to the wild-type strain (WT). MCFAs in M-1 (47.45%) was sharply increased compared to the wild type strain (2.25%), and it was further increased in M-2 (60.09%) suggesting a negative role of ACOX in MCFAs production. However, MCFAs in M-3 were much decreased compared to M-1,suggesting a positive role of ACOT in MCFAs production. The M-2 strain showed maximum lipid productivity (~1800 milligram per liter per day or mg/L.d) and MCFAs productivity (~1100 mg/L.d). Taken together, this study elaborates on how the combination of two multidimensional approaches, TE gene over-expression and modification of the β-oxidation pathway via substantial knockout of specific ACOX gene, significantly increased the production of MCFAs. This synergistic approach ultimately offers a novel opportunity for synthetic/industrial biologists to increase the content of MCFAs.

Dataset Information

Brain white matter development is associated with a human-specific haplotype increasing the synthesis of long chain fatty acids.

Publications

Brain white matter development is associated with a human-specific haplotype increasing the synthesis of long chain fatty acids.

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