title: Role of fatty acid synthase in the development of Dictyostelium discoideum.
abstract: Fatty acids are fundamental cellular components, and provide essential building blocks for membrane biosynthesis. Although the use of gene knockout mutants is a robust method for examining the function of specific cellular metabolic networks, fatty acid synthase knockout mutants are extremely difficult to isolate. In the Dictyostelium discoideum genome, we found two putative fatty acid synthase genes, and we created a knockout mutant for one of them to examine the physiological consequences. In this study, we found that a continuous fatty acid supply was necessary for normal development, and the fatty acid synthase knockout mutant showed severe developmental delay. This developmental defect was corrected in chimeras composed of wild type cells and knockout mutant cells (3:7, respectively). The knockout mutant also showed aberrant expression of fatty acid biosynthesis genes. These results showed that D. discoideum needs correct fatty acid synthesis for normal development.
authors: Graduate School of Science and Technology, Sophia University.
authors: Takaaki B
authors: TB
authors: Narita
authors: Takahiro W
authors: TW
authors: Kikukawa
authors: Yukie G
authors: YG
authors: Sato
authors: Saki H
authors: SH
authors: Miyazaki
authors: Naoki
authors: N
authors: Morita
authors: Tamao
authors: T
authors: Saito
mesh_terms: D004023:Dictyostelium / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D064429:Fatty Acid Synthases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000502:physiology; D055786:Gene Knockout Techniques; D009154:Mutation
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids; D064429:Fatty Acid Synthases