title: Three, two, one yeast fatty acid desaturases: regulation and function.
abstract: Fatty acid composition of biological membranes functionally adapts to environmental conditions by changing its composition through the activity of lipid biosynthetic enzymes, including the fatty acid desaturases. Three major desaturases are present in yeasts, responsible for the generation of double bonds in position C9-C10, C12-C13 and C15-C16 of the carbon backbone. In this review, we will report data addressed to define the functional role of basidiomycete and ascomycete yeast desaturase enzymes in response to various external signals and the regulation of the expression of their corresponding genes. Many yeast species have the complete set of three desaturases; however, only the Δ9 desaturase seems to be necessary and sufficient to ensure yeast viability. The evolutionary issue of this observation will be discussed.
authors.affiliation: Dip. di Biologia e Biotecnologie C. Darwin, Sapienza Università di Roma, p.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Santomartino
authors.affiliation: División de Biología Molecular, Instituto Potosino de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica (IPICYT), A.C., San Luis Potosí, Mexico.
authors.forename: Lina
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Riego-Ruiz
authors.affiliation: Dip. di Biologia e Biotecnologie C. Darwin, Sapienza Università di Roma, p.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy. michele.bianchi@uniroma1.it.
authors.forename: Michele M
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0876-8770
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Bianchi
mesh_terms: D001203:Ascomycota / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000502:physiology; D001487:Basidiomycota / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000502:physiology; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D044943:Fatty Acid Desaturases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; D020043:Genes, Essential; D050296:Microbial Viability; D009154:Mutation; D010802:Phylogeny
chemical_list: D005656:Fungal Proteins; D044943:Fatty Acid Desaturases
keywords: Evolution; Lipid biosynthesis; Membranes; Unsaturated fatty acids