Sphingolipids are important membrane signalling molecules involved in many different cellular functions in eukaryotes. Sphingolipid delta 4-desaturase catalyses the formation of (E)-sphing-4-enine (PUBMED:11937514). Some proteins in this family have bifunctional delta 4-desaturase/C-4-hydroxylase activity. Delta 4-desaturated sphingolipids may play a role in early signalling required for entry into meiotic and spermatid differentiation pathways during Drosophila spermatogenesis (PUBMED:119375141). This small domain associates with FA_desaturase (PFAM PF00487) and appears to be specific to sphingolipid delta 4-desaturase.
This small domain appears to be specific to sphingolipid delta 4-desaturase. Sphingolipids are important membrane signalling molecules involved in many different cellular functions in eukaryotes. Sphingolipid delta 4-desaturase catalyses the formation of (E)-sphing-4-enine [ (PUBMED:11937514) ]. Some proteins with this domain have bifunctional delta 4-desaturase/C-4-hydroxylase activity. Delta 4-desaturated sphingolipids may play a role in early signalling required for entry into meiotic and spermatid differentiation pathways during Drosophila spermatogenesis [ (PUBMED:11937514) ].
Family alignment:
There are 1787 Lipid_DES domains in 1784 proteins in SMART's nrdb database.
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Evolution (species in which this domain is found)
Taxonomic distribution of proteins containing Lipid_DES domain.
This tree includes only several representative species. The complete taxonomic breakdown of all proteins with Lipid_DES domain is also avaliable.
Click on the protein counts, or double click on taxonomic names to display all proteins containing Lipid_DES domain in the selected taxonomic class.
Identification and characterization of a sphingolipid delta 4-desaturase family.
J Biol Chem. 2002; 277: 25512-8
Display abstract
Sphingolipids desaturated at the Delta4-position are important signalingmolecules in many eukaryotic organisms, including mammals. In a bioinformaticsapproach, we now identified a new family of protein sequences from animals,plants, and fungi and characterized these sequences biochemically by expressionin Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This resulted in the identification of the enzymesphingolipid Delta4-desaturase (dihydroceramide desaturase) from Homo sapiens,Mus musculus, Drosophila melanogaster, and Candida albicans, in addition to abifunctional sphingolipid Delta4-desaturase/C-4-hydroxylase from M. musculus.Among the sequences investigated are the Homo sapiens membrane lipid desaturase, the M. musculus degenerative spermatocyte, and the Drosophila melanogasterdegenerative spermatocyte proteins. During spermatogenesis, but not oogenesis of des mutant flies, both cell cycle and spermatid differentiation are specifically blocked at the entry into the first meiotic division, leading to male sterility. This mutant phenotype can be restored to wild-type by complementation with afunctional copy of the des gene (Endo, K., Akiyama, T., Kobayashi S., and Okada, M. (1996) Mol. Gen. Genet. 253, 157-165). These results suggest thatDelta4-desaturated sphingolipids provide an early signal necessary to trigger theentry into both meiotic and spermatid differentiation pathways during Drosophila spermatogenesis.
Links (links to other resources describing this domain)
