Zhuang Xiao-Yan, Zhang Yong-Hui, Xiao An-Feng, Zhang Ai-Hui, Fang Bai-Shan
College of Food and Biological Engineering, Jimei University, Xiamen, China.
Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.
Front Nutr. 2022 Feb 23;9:851402. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.851402. eCollection 2022.
Dietary bioactive lipids, one of the three primary nutrients, is not only essential for growth and provides nutrients and energy for life's activities but can also help to guard against disease, such as Alzheimer's and cardiovascular diseases, which further strengthen the immune system and maintain many body functions. Many microorganisms, such as yeast, algae, and marine fungi, have been widely developed for dietary bioactive lipids production. These biosynthetic processes were not limited by the climate and ground, which are also responsible for superiority of shorter periods and high conversion rate. However, the production process was also exposed to the challenges of low stability, concentration, and productivity, which was derived from the limited knowledge about the critical enzyme in the metabolic pathway. Fortunately, the development of enzymatic research methods provides powerful tools to understand the catalytic process, including site-specific mutagenesis, protein dynamic simulation, and metabolic engineering technology. Thus, we review the characteristics of critical desaturase and elongase involved in the fatty acids' synthesis metabolic pathway, which aims to not only provide extensive data for enzyme rational design and modification but also provides a more profound and comprehensive understanding of the dietary bioactive lipids' synthetic process.
膳食生物活性脂质作为三大主要营养素之一，不仅对生长至关重要，为生命活动提供营养和能量，还能帮助预防疾病，如阿尔茨海默病和心血管疾病，进一步增强免疫系统并维持多种身体功能。许多微生物，如酵母、藻类和海洋真菌，已被广泛用于生产膳食生物活性脂质。这些生物合成过程不受气候和土地的限制，这也是其生产周期短和转化率高的优势所在。然而，生产过程也面临着稳定性、浓度和生产率低的挑战，这源于对代谢途径中关键酶的了解有限。幸运的是，酶学研究方法的发展为理解催化过程提供了强大工具，包括位点特异性诱变、蛋白质动态模拟和代谢工程技术。因此，我们综述了脂肪酸合成代谢途径中关键去饱和酶和延长酶的特性，目的不仅是为酶的合理设计和修饰提供广泛数据，还能更深入全面地了解膳食生物活性脂质的合成过程。
