Acyl-CoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferase: molecular biology, biochemistry and biotechnology

Summary
Astaxanthin, a red ketocarotenoid with strong antioxidant activity and high commercial value, possesses important physiological functions in astaxanthin-producing microalgae. The green microalga Haematococcus pluvialis accumulates up to 4% fatty acid-esterified astaxanthin (by dry weight), and is used as a model species for exploring astaxanthin biosynthesis in unicellular photosynthetic organisms. Although coordination of astaxanthin and fatty acid biosynthesis in a stoichiometric fashion was observed in H. pluvialis, the interaction mechanism is unclear. Here we dissected the molecular mechanism underlying coordination between the two pathways in H. pluvialis. Our results eliminated possible coordination of this inter-dependence at the transcriptional level, and showed that this interaction was feedback-coordinated at the metabolite level. In vivo and in vitro experiments indicated that astaxanthin esterification drove the formation and accumulation of astaxanthin. We further showed that both free astaxanthin biosynthesis and esterification occurred in the endoplasmic reticulum, and that certain diacylglycerol acyltransferases may be the candidate enzymes catalyzing astaxanthin esterification. A model of astaxanthin biosynthesis in H. pluvialis was subsequently proposed. These findings provide further insights into astaxanthin biosynthesis in H. pluvialis.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/tpj.12713

Molecular mechanisms of the coordination between astaxanthin and fatty acid biosynthesis in Haematococcus pluvialis (Chlorophyceae)

SUMMARY Long-chain-length hydrophobic acyl residues play a vital role in a multitude of essential biological structures and processes. They build the inner hydrophobic layers of biological membranes, are converted to intracellular storage compounds, and are used to modify protein properties or function as membrane anchors, to name only a few functions. Acyl thioesters are transferred by acyltransferases or transacylases to a variety of different substrates or are polymerized to lipophilic storage compounds. Lipases represent another important enzyme class dealing with fatty acyl chains; however, they cannot be regarded as acyltransferases in the strict sense. This review provides a detailed survey of the wide spectrum of bacterial acyltransferases and compares different enzyme families in regard to their catalytic mechanisms. On the basis of their studied or assumed mechanisms, most of the acyl-transferring enzymes can be divided into two groups. The majority of enzymes discussed in this review employ a conserved acyltransferase motif with an invariant histidine residue, followed by an acidic amino acid residue, and their catalytic mechanism is characterized by a noncovalent transition state. In contrast to that, lipases rely on completely different mechanism which employs a catalytic triad and functions via the formation of covalent intermediates. This is, for example, similar to the mechanism which has been suggested for polyester synthases. Consequently, although the presented enzyme types neither share homology nor have a common three-dimensional structure, and although they deal with greatly varying molecule structures, this variety is not reflected in their mechanisms, all of which rely on a catalytically active histidine residue.

Acyltransferases in Bacteria

Centralized facilities for genetic engineering, or “biofoundries”, offer the potential to design organisms to address emerging needs in medicine, agriculture, industry, and defense. The field has seen rapid advances in technology, but it is difficult to gauge current capabilities or identify gaps across projects. To this end, our foundry was assessed via a timed “pressure test”, in which 3 months were given to build organisms to produce 10 molecules unknown to us in advance. By applying a diversity of new approaches, we produced the desired molecule or a closely related one for six out of 10 targets during the performance period and made advances toward production of the others as well. Specifically, we increased the titers of 1-hexadecanol, pyrrolnitrin, and pacidamycin D, found novel routes to the enediyne warhead underlying powerful antimicrobials, established a cell-free system for monoterpene production, produced an intermediate toward vincristine biosynthesis, and encoded 7802 individually retrievab...

A Pressure Test to Make 10 Molecules in 90 Days: External Evaluation of Methods to Engineer Biology

Metabolic engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to improve 1-hexadecanol production

Background
Birds clean and lubricate their feathers with waxes that are produced in the uropygial gland, a holocrine gland located on their back above the tail. The type and the composition of the secreted wax esters are dependent on the bird species, for instance the wax ester secretion of goose contains branched-chain fatty acids and unbranched fatty alcohols, whereas that of barn owl contains fatty acids and alcohols both of which are branched. Alcohol-forming fatty acyl-CoA reductases (FAR) catalyze the reduction of activated acyl groups to fatty alcohols that can be esterified with acyl-CoA thioesters forming wax esters.

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Fatty acyl-CoA reductases of birds

Bird species show a high degree of variation in the composition of their preen gland waxes. For instance, galliform birds like chicken contain fatty acid esters of 2,3-alkanediols, while Anseriformes like goose or Strigiformes like barn owl contain wax monoesters in their preen gland secretions. The final biosynthetic step is catalyzed by wax synthases (WS) which have been identified in pro- and eukaryotic organisms. Sequence similarities enabled us to identify six cDNAs encoding putative wax synthesizing proteins in chicken and two from barn owl and goose. Expression studies in yeast under in vivo and in vitro conditions showed that three proteins from chicken performed WS activity while a sequence from chicken, goose and barn owl encoded a bifunctional enzyme catalyzing both wax ester and triacylglycerol synthesis. Mono- and bifunctional WS were found to differ in their substrate specificities especially with regard to branched-chain alcohols and acyl-CoA thioesters. According to the expression patterns of their transcripts and the properties of the enzymes, avian WS proteins might not be confined to preen glands. We provide direct evidence that avian preen glands possess both monofunctional and bifunctional WS proteins which have different expression patterns and WS activities with different substrate specificities.

/pdf/identification-of-avian-wax-synthases-34esjzvn2s.pdf

Identification of avian wax synthases

Multifunctional acyltransferases are able to catalyze the esterification of various acyl-acceptors with activated fatty acids. Here we describe the identification of four proteins from Tetrahymena thermophila that share certain properties with mammalian acyltransferases regarding their predicted transmembrane structure, their molecular mass and the typical acyltransferase motif. Expression of the Tetrahymena sequences results in production of triacylglycerols and wax esters in recombinant yeast when appropriate substrates are provided. The in vitro characterization shows, that these enzymes are capable of esterifying different acyl-acceptors including fatty alcohols, diols, diacylglycerols and isoprenols with acyl-CoA thioesters. Based on these catalytic activities and the sequence similarities of the Tetrahymena proteins with acyl-CoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferase 2 (DGAT2) family members, we conclude that we identified a new group of DGAT2-related multifunctional acyltransferases from protozoan organisms.

/pdf/multifunctional-acyltransferases-from-tetrahymena-m51fc00j5f.pdf

Janine Hellenbrand

Papers

Fatty acyl-CoA reductases of birds

Identification of avian wax synthases

Multifunctional Acyltransferases from Tetrahymena thermophila