Regulation of Fatty Acid Metabolism in Bacterial Systems
Summary
Regulation of fatty acid metabolism in bacteria integrates synthesis, degradation and membrane adaptation through coordinated control of enzyme expression and activity. Biosynthetic pathways generate acyl-carrier protein (ACP)-bound thioesters, while degradative pathways channel fatty acyl-CoA into the ß-oxidation cycle to produce acetyl-CoA and reducing equivalents. Transcriptional regulators sense pools of acyl-CoA or acyl-ACP to adjust gene expression, ensuring membrane fluidity, energy homeostasis and rapid adaptation to environmental or host-derived lipid sources. Feedback loops between metabolic intermediates and sensor proteins such as FadR and FabR fine-tune the balance of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. Additional layers of regulation involve alternative sigma factors, non-coding RNAs and allosteric enzyme modulation, allowing bacteria to survive nutrient fluctuations, resist stress and coordinate lipid metabolism with virulence and biofilm formation.
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Regulation of Fatty Acid Metabolism in Bacterial Systems publication trend
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Technical terms
Acyl-CoA: A fatty acid thioesterified to coenzyme A, acting as both metabolite and effector for transcriptional regulators.
Acyl-ACP: A fatty acid intermediate bound to acyl carrier protein, crucial for chain elongation in fatty acid biosynthesis.
ß-oxidation cycle: The enzymatic process that degrades fatty acyl-CoA into acetyl-CoA, NADH and FADH₂ for energy and biosynthetic precursors.
FadR: A helix-turn-helix transcriptional regulator in Escherichia coli that senses long-chain acyl-CoA to control fatty acid biosynthesis and degradation genes.
FabR: A repressor that modulates unsaturated fatty acid biosynthetic genes in Escherichia coli in response to acyl-thioester pool composition.
References
- Degradation of Exogenous Fatty Acids in Escherichia coli. Biomolecules (2022).
- Multiple FadD Acyl-CoA Synthetases Contribute to Differential Fatty Acid Degradation and Virulence in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. PLOS ONE (2010).
- The FabR (YijC) Transcription Factor Regulates Unsaturated Fatty Acid Biosynthesis in Escherichia coli *. Journal of Biological Chemistry (2002).
- The FadR·DNA Complex TRANSCRIPTIONAL CONTROL OF FATTY ACID METABOLISM INESCHERICHIA COLI *. Journal of Biological Chemistry (2001).
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