fatty acid desaturase 1 (delta(5) fatty acid desaturase, selta(5) desaturase, D5D, FADS1, FADSD5)

Function

• component of a lipid metabolic pathway that catalyzes biosynthesis of highly unsaturated fatty acids from precursor essential polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) linoleicacid (18:2n-6) & alpha-linolenic acid (18:3n-3)
• catalyzes desaturation of dihomo-gamma-linoleic acid (DHGLA) (20:3n-6) & eicosatetraenoic acid (20:4n-3) to generate arachidonic acid (20:4n-6) & eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) (20:5n-3) respectively
• highly unsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis

Structure

• histidine box domains may contain the active site &/or be involved in metal ion binding
• belongs to the fatty acid desaturase family
• contains 1 cytochrome b5 heme-binding domain

Compartment

endoplasmic reticulum membrane

Expression

• expressed in many tissues
• most abundant in liver, brain, adrenal gland & heart
• found in skeletal muscle, lung, placenta, kidney, pancreas & retina
• highly expressed in fetal liver & fetal brain

More general terms

• membrane protein
• dehydrogenase

Additional terms

• fatty acid desaturase

Database

• OMIM: https://mirror.omim.org/entry/606148
• UniProt: http://www.uniprot.org/uniprot/O60427.html