Role in Human Metabolism
Four desaturases occur in humans: Δ9desaturase, Δ6desaturase, Δ5 desaturase, and Δ4 desaturase.
Δ9desaturase, also known as stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1, is used to synthesize oleic acid, a monounsaturated, ubiquitous component of all cells in the human body. Δ9desaturase produces oleic acid by desaturating stearic acid, a saturated fatty acid either synthesized in the body from palmitic acid or ingested directly.
Δ6 and Δ5 desaturases are required for the synthesis of highly unsaturated fatty acids such as eicosopentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids (synthesized from a-linolenic acid), and arachidonic acid (synthesized from linoleic acid). This is a multi-stage process requiring successive actions by elongase and desaturase enzymes. The genes coding for Δ6 and Δ5 desaturase production have been located on human chromosome 11.
- Human fatty acid desaturases:
DEGS1; DEGS2; FADS1; FADS2; FADS3; FADS6; SCD4; SCD5
Read more about this topic: Fatty Acid Desaturase
Famous quotes containing the words role in, role, human and/or metabolism:
“Certainly parents play a crucial role in the lives of individuals who are intellectually gifted or creatively talented. But this role is not one of active instruction, of teaching children skills,... rather, it is support and encouragement parents give children and the intellectual climate that they create in the home which seem to be the critical factors.”
—David Elkind (20th century)
“You are pitiful isolated individuals; you are bankrupts; your role is played out. Go where you belong from now on—into the dustbin of history!”
—Leon Trotsky (1879–1940)
“Yes, though you may think me perverse, if it were proposed to me to dwell in the neighborhood of the most beautiful garden that ever human art contrived, or else of a Dismal Swamp, I should certainly decide for the swamp.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“He’s got a fifteen percent metabolism with an overactive thyroid and a glandular affectation of about three percent. With a one percent mentality. He’s what we designate as the Crummy Moronic type.”
—Robert Pirosh, U.S. screenwriter, George Seaton, George Oppenheimer, and Sam Wood. Dr. Hugo Z. Hackenbush (Groucho Marx)