Premium
Mammalian ceramide synthases
Author(s) -
Levy Michal,
Futerman Anthony H.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
iubmb life
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.132
H-Index - 113
eISSN - 1521-6551
pISSN - 1521-6543
DOI - 10.1002/iub.319
Subject(s) - ceramide , sphingolipid , intracellular , lipid signaling , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , signal transduction , mechanism (biology) , apoptosis , enzyme , philosophy , epistemology
In mammals, ceramide, a key intermediate in sphingolipid metabolism and an important signaling molecule, is synthesized by a family of six ceramide synthases (CerS), each of which synthesizes ceramides with distinct acyl chain lengths. There are a number of common biochemical features between the CerS, such as their catalytic mechanism, and their structure and intracellular localization. Different CerS also display remarkable differences in their biological properties, with each of them playing distinct roles in processes as diverse as cancer and tumor suppression, in the response to chemotherapeutic drugs, in apoptosis, and in neurodegenerative diseases. © 2010 IUBMB IUBMB Life, 62(5): 347–356, 2010