Journal
MARINE BIOTECHNOLOGY
Volume 14, Issue 4, Pages 411-422Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s10126-011-9423-2
Keywords
Biosynthesis; Delta 5 fatty acyl desaturase; Essential fatty acids; Non-methylene-interrupted fatty acid; Octopus vulgaris; Unsaturated fatty acids
Funding
- European Community [PERG08-GA-2010-276916]
- Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion through the OCTOPHYS [AGL-2010-22120-C03-02]
- Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral contract
- Generalitat Valenciana through a PROMETEO [2010/006]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) have been identified as essential compounds for common octopus (Octopus vulgaris), but precise dietary requirements have not been determined due, in part, to the inherent difficulties of performing feeding trials on paralarvae. Our objective is to establish the essential fatty acid (EFA) requirements for paralarval stages of the common octopus through characterisation of the enzymes of endogenous LC-PUFA biosynthetic pathways. In this study, we isolated a cDNA with high homology to fatty acyl desaturases (Fad). Functional characterisation in recombinant yeast showed that the octopus Fad exhibited Delta 5-desaturation activity towards saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acyl substrates. Thus, it efficiently converted the yeast's endogenous 16:0 and 18:0 to 16:1n-11 and 18:1n-13, respectively, and desaturated exogenously added PUFA substrates 20:4n-3 and 20:3n-6 to 20:5n-3 (EPA) and 20:4n-6 (ARA), respectively. Although the Delta 5 Fad enables common octopus to produce EPA and ARA, the low availability of its adequate substrates 20:4n-3 and 20:3n-6, either in the diet or by limited endogenous synthesis from C-18 PUFA, might indicate that EPA and ARA are indeed EFA for this species. Interestingly, the octopus Delta 5 Fad can also participate in the biosynthesis of non-methylene-interrupted FA, PUFA that are generally uncommon in vertebrates but have been found previously in marine invertebrates, including molluscs, and now also confirmed to be present in specific tissues of common octopus.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available