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Science 3 March 2006:
Vol. 311. no. 5765, p. 1209
DOI: 10.1126/science.311.5765.1209c
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The biosynthesis of fatty acids is a central metabolic pathway in which long hydrocarbon chains are built by adding two-carbon units in a repetitive sequence of reactions (see the cover and the Perspective by Smith). Maier et al. (p. 1258) and Jenni et al. (p. 1263) present the detailed views of the mammalian and fungal fatty acid synthase complexes by fitting the homologous catalytic domains from the corresponding bacterial enzymes into 4.5 or 5.0 angstrom electron density maps. Amazingly, the seven functional domains are arranged in completely different ways. The mammalian complex resembles an "X" in which the arms flex upward and downward during each round of addition. The fungal enzyme looks like an "egg" with separate reaction chambers in the top and bottom halves.




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