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Formation of Fatty Acids

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Biogenesis of Fatty Acids, Lipids and Membranes

Part of the book series: Handbook of Hydrocarbon and Lipid Microbiology ((HHLM))

Abstract

Fatty acids are the building blocks of diverse membrane lipids and therefore are essential for the viability of all cells, except the Archaea where side chains of membrane lipids are isoprenoids. Fatty acid biosynthesis is catalyzed in most bacteria by a group of highly conserved proteins known as the type II fatty acid synthase (FAS II) system. A key protein in this system is the acyl carrier protein (ACP) which acts as carrier of growing acyl chains during biosynthesis and as donor of acyl chains during transfer to target molecules. The Escherichia coli FAS II system is the model pathway of fatty acid biosynthesis in bacteria, and mainly the same set of enzymes is present in different bacteria. Variations of the basic set give rise to the diversity of fatty acid composition of each organism. The intrinsic specificity of the acyltransferases is largely responsible for the fatty acid composition of complex lipids and signal molecules. Biosynthesis of fatty acids is a target for development of new antibiotics, especially against drug resistance microbes. Metabolic engineering of the fatty acid biosynthetic pathway is a promising tool to enhance production of biofuels.

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Acknowledgments

Research in our lab was supported by grants from Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico-Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (DGAPA-UNAM; PAPIIT IN202616) and from Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología-México (CONACyT-Mexico) (178359 and 253549 in Investigación Científica Básica as well as 118 in Investigación en Fronteras de la Ciencia). We thank José Espíritu Salazar, Ángeles Moreno-Ocampo, and Lourdes Martínez-Aguilar for their skillful technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

    Isabel M. López-Lara

  2. Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

    Otto Geiger

Authors
  1. Isabel M. López-Lara
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  2. Otto Geiger
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Isabel M. López-Lara .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

    Otto Geiger

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López-Lara, I.M., Geiger, O. (2019). Formation of Fatty Acids. In: Geiger, O. (eds) Biogenesis of Fatty Acids, Lipids and Membranes. Handbook of Hydrocarbon and Lipid Microbiology . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50430-8_5

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