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Identification and characterization of a novel Δ 6 ‐fatty acid desaturase gene from Rhizopus arrhizus
Author(s) -
Zhang Qi,
Li Mingchun,
Ma Haiting,
Sun Ying,
Xing Laijun
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/s0014-5793(03)01380-2
Subject(s) - rhizopus arrhizus , fatty acid desaturase , biochemistry , complementary dna , peptide sequence , biology , rapid amplification of cdna ends , open reading frame , nucleic acid sequence , fatty acid , microbiology and biotechnology , saccharomyces cerevisiae , gene , enzyme , polyunsaturated fatty acid , lipase
A cDNA sequence putatively encoding a Δ 6 ‐fatty acid desaturase was isolated from Rhizopus arrhizus using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and rapid amplification of cDNA ends methods. Sequence analysis indicated that this cDNA sequence had an open reading frame of 1377 bp encoding 458 amino acids of 52 kDa. The deduced amino acid sequence showed high similarity to those of fungal Δ 6 ‐fatty acid desaturases which comprised the characteristics of membrane‐bound desaturases, including three conserved histidine‐rich motifs and hydropathy profile. A cytochrome b 5 ‐like domain was observed at the N‐terminus. To elucidate the function of this novel putative desaturase, the coding sequence was expressed heterologously in Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain INVScl. The result demonstrated that the coding product of the sequence exhibited Δ 6 ‐fatty acid desaturase activity by the accumulation of γ‐linolenic acid.