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. 2022 Aug;48(4):817-838.
doi: 10.1007/s10695-022-01082-4. Epub 2022 May 29.

A complete inventory of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis pathway enzymes in the miniaturized cyprinid Paedocypris micromegethes

Ka-Kei Sam  1 , Nyok-Sean Lau  1 , Meng-Kiat Kuah  2 , Engkamat Anak Lading  3 , Alexander Chong Shu-Chien  4   5
Affiliations

A complete inventory of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis pathway enzymes in the miniaturized cyprinid Paedocypris micromegethes

Ka-Kei Sam et al. Fish Physiol Biochem. 2022 Aug.

Abstract

The capacity for long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (LC-PUFA) biosynthesis activity in a species depends on the enzymatic activities of fatty acyl desaturase (Fads) and elongation of very long-chain fatty acid (Elovl). The miniaturized fish Paedocypris micromegethes is a developmentally truncated cyprinid living in highly acidic water conditions in tropical peat swamps. The capacity for LC-PUFA biosynthesis in this species, which has a reduced genome size, is unknown. A high-quality de novo transcriptome assembly enabled the identification of a putative Fads2 and four Elovl. The Fads2 was verified as a P. micromegethes Fads2 ortholog with in vitro Δ5 and Δ6 activities. The Elovl sequences were established as an Elovl5, Elovl2, and two Elovl4 paralogs, namely Elovl4a and Elovl4b. These Elovl enzymes, mainly Elovl5 and Elovl2, fulfill the necessary C18, C20, and C22 PUFA elongation steps for LC-PUFA biosynthesis. Collectively, these results validate the presence of a complete repertoire of LC-PUFA biosynthesis enzymes in a peat swamp miniatured freshwater fish.

Keywords: Elovl; Fads; Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids; Miniaturized fish; Paedocypris micromegethes; Tropical peat swamp.

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