The fatty acid elongation genes elovl4a and elovl4b are present and functional in the genome of tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum)

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2020

Authors

Ferraz, RB (Author) Other; Machado, AM (Author) Other; Navarro, JC (Author) Other; Cunha, I (Author) Other; Ozorio, R (Author) Other; Salaro, AL (Author) Other; Filipe F C Castro (Author) FCUP; Monroig, O (Author) Other

Journal

Title: COMPARATIVE BIOCHEMISTRY AND PHYSIOLOGY B-BIOCHEMISTRY & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

Vol. 245

ISSN: 0305-0491

Publisher: Elsevier

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 6 Citations

Scopus - 7 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00S-1JF

DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpb.2020.110447

Abstract (EN): Long-chain (C20-24) polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) are physiologically important nutrients for vertebrates including fish. Previous studies have addressed the metabolism of LC-PUFA in the Amazonian teleost tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum), an emerging species in Brazilian aquaculture, showing that all the desaturase and elongase activities required to convert C-18 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) into LC-PUFA are present in tambaqui. Yet, elongation of very long-chain fatty acid 4 (Elovl4) proteins, which participate in the biosynthesis of very long-chain (> C-24) saturated fatty acids (VLC-SFA) and very long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (VLC-PUFA), had not been characterized in this species. Here, we investigate the repertoire and function of two Elovl4 in tambaqui. Furthermore, we present the first draft genome assembly from tambaqui, and demonstrated the usefulness of this resource in nutritional physiology studies by isolating one of the tambaqui elovl4 genes. Our results showed that, similarly to other teleost species, two elovl4 gene paralogs termed as elovl4a and elovl4b, are present in tambaqui. Tambaqui elovl4a and elovl4b have open reading frames (ORF) of 948 and 912 base pairs, encoding putative proteins of 315 and 303 amino acids, respectively. Functional characterization in yeast showed that both Elovl4 enzymes have activity toward all the PUFA substrates assayed (18:3n-3, 18:2n-6, 18:4n-3, 18:3n-6, 20:5n-3, 20:4n-6, 22:5n-3, 22:4n-6 and 22:6n-3), producing elongated products of up to C-36. Moreover, both Elovl4 were able to elongate 22:5n-3 to 24:5n-3, a key elongation step required for the synthesis of docosahexaenoic acid via the Sprecher pathway.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 10