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Symbol: fat-7 Name: FATty acid desaturase Entrez gene ID: 179100 Ensembl gene ID: F10D2.9 Species: Worm (Taxid: 6239) Functional description: Protein FAT-7; FATty acid desaturase family member (fat-7) [Source:RefSeq peptide;Acc:NP_504814] [Ensembl]; fat-7 encodes an essential delta-9 fatty acid desaturase that is required for the synthesis of monounsaturated fatty acids; fat-7 can substitute for the functions of the other two fatty acid desaturases, fat-5 and fat-6; RNA interference has shown that fat-7 is required for viability and normal growth. When expressed heterologously in S. cerevisiae, it rescues the fatty acid auxotrophy of the yeast delta-9 desaturase mutant ole1. FAT-6 readily desaturates stearic acid (18:0), or similar fatty acids (17:0 or 18:1 delta-11 trans), but shows less activity on palmitic acid (16:0), and no activity on other medium chain fatty acids (14:0 or 15:0). This resembles FAT-6 while contrasting with FAT-5, which readily desaturates palmitic acid (16:0), but shows nearly undetectable activity on the common delta9 substrate stearic acid. FAT-7 belongs to a family of diiron-oxo integral membrane proteins that use cytochrome b5 and NADH-cytochrome b5 reductase as cofactors, and whose protein sequences contain conserved motifs consisting of three histidine-rich sequences (H-boxes) and two long stretches (>40 residues each) of hydrophobic residues; the H-boxes are thought to coordinate the diiron-oxo structure at the active sites, while the hydrophobic stretches are thought to bind the lipid bilayer and put H-boxes into an active site. Each histidine residue in the H-boxes is required for function when assayed by site-directed mutagenesis. This gene encodes a protein predicted by Eisenberg and coworkers, with 52% accuracy, to be mitochondrial. [WormBase] Observation: RNA interference shortened lifespan and altered fatty acid composition. Assays: Classification: Aging Relevance Analysis/Source:  GenAge GenDRHomologs Edit \ Update (Admin) | Delete |
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