enzymology An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different mol ...

, sphingosine N-acyltransferases (ceramide synthases (CerS), ) are

enzyme An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different mol ...

s that

catalyze Catalysis () is the increase in rate of a chemical reaction due to an added substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed by the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recycles quick ...

the

chemical reaction A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the chemistry, chemical transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. When chemical reactions occur, the atoms are rearranged and the reaction is accompanied by an Gibbs free energy, ...

of synthesis of

ceramide Ceramides are a family of waxy lipid molecules. A ceramide is composed of sphingosine and a fatty acid joined by an amide bond. Ceramides are found in high concentrations within the cell membrane of Eukaryote, eukaryotic cells, since they are co ...

: :acyl-CoA + sphingosine

\rightleftharpoons

CoA + N-acylsphingosine Thus, the two substrates of this enzyme are

acyl-CoA Acyl-CoA is a group of coenzyme A, CoA-based coenzymes that metabolize carboxylic acids. Fatty acyl-CoA's are susceptible to beta oxidation, forming, ultimately, acetyl-CoA. The acetyl-CoA enters the citric acid cycle, eventually forming several e ...

and

sphingosine Sphingosine (2-amino-4-trans-octadecene-1,3-diol) is an 18-carbon amino alcohol with an unsaturated hydrocarbon chain, which forms a primary part of sphingolipids, a class of cell membrane lipids that include sphingomyelin, an important phosphol ...

, whereas its two

products Product may refer to: Business * Product (business), an item that can be offered to a market to satisfy the desire or need of a customer. * Product (project management), a deliverable or set of deliverables that contribute to a business solution ...

are CoA and

N-acylsphingosine Ceramides are a family of waxy lipid molecules. A ceramide is composed of sphingosine and a fatty acid joined by an amide bond. Ceramides are found in high concentrations within the cell membrane of eukaryotic cells, since they are component lip ...

. Ceramide synthases are

integral membrane proteins An integral, or intrinsic, membrane protein (IMP) is a type of membrane protein that is permanently attached to the biological membrane. All transmembrane proteins can be classified as IMPs, but not all IMPs are transmembrane proteins. IMPs com ...

of the

endoplasmic reticulum The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a part of a transportation system of the eukaryote, eukaryotic cell, and has many other important functions such as protein folding. The word endoplasmic means "within the cytoplasm", and reticulum is Latin for ...

. This enzyme belongs to the family of

transferase In biochemistry, a transferase is any one of a class of enzymes that catalyse the transfer of specific functional groups (e.g. a methyl or glycosyl group) from one molecule (called the donor) to another (called the acceptor). They are involved ...

s, specifically those

acyltransferase Acyltransferase is a type of transferase enzyme that acts upon acyl In chemistry, an acyl group is a moiety derived by the removal of one or more hydroxyl groups from an oxoacid, including inorganic acids. It contains a double-bonded oxygen ...

s transferring groups other than aminoacyl groups. The

systematic name A systematic name is a name given in a systematic way to one unique group, organism, object or chemical substance, out of a specific population or collection. Systematic names are usually part of a nomenclature. A semisystematic name or semitrivi ...

of this enzyme class is acyl-CoA:sphingosine N-acyltransferase. Other names in common use include ceramide synthetase, and sphingosine acyltransferase. This enzyme participates in sphingolipid metabolism.

History

CerS were originally called Lass (''L''ongevity ''ass''urance) genes because of their homology to the

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom (biology), kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are est ...

protein, longevity assurance gene-1 (LAG1p), and they were later renamed due to the discovery of their biological function. LAG1 in yeast was discovered in 1994 and named for the discovery that its deletion prolonged life span of''

Saccharomyces cerevisiae ''Saccharomyces cerevisiae'' () (brewer's yeast or baker's yeast) is a species of yeast (single-celled fungal microorganisms). The species has been instrumental in winemaking, baking, and brewing since ancient times. It is believed to have be ...

'' by almost 50%. In the following years, it and its homologs were shown to be required for the syntheses of ceramides found in yeast. Three years previously, the

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

ian gene upstream of growth and differentiation factor-1 (UOG-1) was discovered, but it wasn't until 2005 that it was defined as the first mammalian CerS, when Sujoy Lahiri and Tony Futerman from the Weizmann Institute of Science found that LASS5 is a bona fide mammalian ceramide synthase that specifically synthesizes palmitoyl (C16) ceramide.

Function

CerS are involved in the ''

de novo De novo (Latin, , used in English to mean 'from the beginning', 'anew') may refer to: Science and computers * ''De novo'' mutation, a new germline mutation not inherited from either parent * ''De novo'' protein design, the creation of a protei ...

'' synthesis pathway of ceramides. Their role is

acylation In chemistry, acylation is a broad class of chemical reactions in which an acyl group () is added to a substrate. The compound providing the acyl group is called the acylating agent. The substrate to be acylated and the product include the foll ...

coupling of

sphinganine Safingol is a lyso-sphingolipid protein kinase inhibitor. It has the molecular formula C18H39NO2 and is a colorless solid. Medicinally, safingol has demonstrated promising anticancer potential as a modulator of multi-drug resistance and as an ind ...

to a long-chain

fatty acid In chemistry, in particular in biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid with an aliphatic chain, which is either saturated and unsaturated compounds#Organic chemistry, saturated or unsaturated. Most naturally occurring fatty acids have an ...

to form a dihydroceramide, before the

double bond In chemistry, a double bond is a covalent bond between two atoms involving four bonding electrons as opposed to two in a single bond. Double bonds occur most commonly between two carbon atoms, for example in alkenes. Many double bonds exist betw ...

is introduced to position 4 of the

sphingoid base Sphingolipids are a class of lipids containing a backbone of sphingoid bases, which are a set of aliphatic amino alcohols that includes sphingosine. They were discovered in brain extracts in the 1870s and were named after the mythological sphin ...

Genetic Characteristics

CerS contain a unique

C-terminal The C-terminus (also known as the carboxyl-terminus, carboxy-terminus, C-terminal tail, carboxy tail, C-terminal end, or COOH-terminus) is the end of an amino acid chain (protein or polypeptide), terminated by a free carboxyl group (-COOH). When t ...

domain called the TLC domain and both mammalian and yeast CerS have 5–8

transmembrane A transmembrane protein is a type of integral membrane protein that spans the entirety of the cell membrane. Many transmembrane proteins function as gateways to permit the transport of specific substances across the membrane. They frequently u ...

domains. All mammalian CerS, aside from CerS1, contain a Hox-like domain shared by

transcription factors In molecular biology, a transcription factor (TF) (or sequence-specific DNA-binding factor) is a protein that controls the rate of transcription of genetic information from DNA to messenger RNA, by binding to a specific DNA sequence. The fun ...

important in development, although the first 15

amino acids Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although over 500 amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the Proteinogenic amino acid, 22 α-amino acids incorporated into p ...

of this domain are missing in CerS, indicating that this domain likely does not function as a genuine transcription factor.

Mammalian CerS

Six mammalian CerS have been described, with each utilizing fatty acyl CoAs of relatively defined chain lengths for N‑acylation of the sphingoid long chain base. Mammals contain six distinct CerS, whereas most other enzymes in the sphingolipid biosynthetic pathway only occur in one or two

isoform A protein isoform, or "protein variant", is a member of a set of highly similar proteins that originate from a single gene and are the result of genetic differences. While many perform the same or similar biological roles, some isoforms have uniqu ...

s.Stiban J, Tidhar R, Futerman AH (2010) Ceramide synthases: roles in cell physiology and signaling
Adv Exp Med Biol 688: 60-71
Ceramide synthases include: * Ceramide synthase 1 * Ceramide synthase 2 * Ceramide synthase 3 * Ceramide synthase 4 * Ceramide synthase 5 * Ceramide synthase 6

References

* {{Portal bar, Biology, border=no EC 2.3.1 Enzymes of unknown structure Integral membrane proteins