title: Functional expression of five Arabidopsis fatty acyl-CoA reductase genes in Escherichia coli.
abstract: Very long chain primary alcohols are significant components in cuticle waxes of plants. Fatty acyl-CoA reductases (FARs) catalyze the formation of a fatty alcohol from an acyl-CoA. The Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) genome contains eight genes homologous to FAR genes from jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis), silk moth, wheat and mouse. Expression of six Arabidopsis FAR homologs in Escherichia coli resulted in production of alcohols from endogenous E. coli fatty acids by five of these genes, confirming that they encode for FAR enzymes. Only a truncated splicing version of the sixth gene was found, and this gene yielded a protein with no FAR activity. The five functional FAR enzymes yielded distinctly different compositions of fatty alcohols when expressed in E. coli, indicating that the different enzymes may be involved in the production of different types of alcohols in plant cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P.O. Box 101, 23053 Alnarp, Sweden.
authors.forename: Thuy T P
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Doan
authors.forename: Anders S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Carlsson
authors.forename: Mats
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hamberg
authors.forename: Leif
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bülow
authors.forename: Sten
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stymne
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Olsson
mesh_terms: D000445:Aldehyde Oxidoreductases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics*; D002855:Chromatography, Thin Layer; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics*; D005233:Fatty Alcohols / Q000378:metabolism; D015870:Gene Expression; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D020539:Sequence Analysis, Protein
chemical_list: D005233:Fatty Alcohols; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D000445:Aldehyde Oxidoreductases; C021351:hexadecanal dehydrogenase (acylating)