From the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, Virginia 23298
J Biol Chem. 2018 Jun 22;293(25):9922-9923. doi: 10.1074/jbc.H118.003522.
The sphingolipid ceramide is not only a precursor of more complex sphingolipids, but also a potent signaling molecule. Specific ceramide species have distinct cellular functions, and each ceramide synthase therefore has particular roles in cells and organisms. Tidhar and colleagues, utilizing two ceramide synthases differing widely in fatty acid specificity, have identified a short amino acid sequence that is critical for this specificity. This work represents a crucial first step in the understanding of both the enzymology and the biology driving the diverse functions of ceramide.
神经酰胺是鞘脂类的一种，不仅是更复杂的鞘脂类的前体，而且还是一种有效的信号分子。特定的神经酰胺种类具有不同的细胞功能，因此每种神经酰胺合酶在细胞和生物体中都具有特定的作用。Tidhar 及其同事利用两种脂肪酸特异性差异很大的神经酰胺合酶，鉴定出一个对这种特异性至关重要的短氨基酸序列。这项工作代表着理解神经酰胺的酶学和生物学驱动其多种功能的重要的第一步。
