A bacterial light response reveals an orphan desaturase for human plasmalogen synthesis

Abstract

Distant cousin helps spot animal enzyme In addition to forming the membranes that enclose cells, lipids are important signaling molecules. Plasmalogens, which contain a vinyl ether linkage, are an abundant group of lipids in animals. How these lipids are synthesized from precursors with an alkyl ether linkage has been a mystery. Gallego-García et al. found an enzyme, CarF, in the social bacterium Myxococcus xanthus that produces plasmalogens used in a signaling pathway for singlet oxygen, a marker of photooxidative stress. They then showed that the animal homolog could catalyze the final step in plasmalogen synthesis in bacterial and human cells, thus resolving a source for plasmalogens in animals. Science , this issue p. 128