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Lipid text description
LIPID METABOLISM
Fatty Acid Biosynthesis
Almost all strains have a similar and complete fatty acid biosynthesis pathway (Figure 16). Only the P8 strain has a frameshifted fabF gene (EC: FabF – OG_1821) and strain NAB2 is missing a 34 amino acid long internal part section of the FabK protein (EC: fabK – OG_2142). Several of the genes have paralogs that are found in almost all strains. But in some strains one of the paralog genes is a pseudogene. This is the case for the accD2 gene (OG_2201) in strains NAB1 and NAB2 and the fabZ2 gene (OG_1849) in strains 19.1 and ER.
The KEGG pathway database indicates that Lactobacillus plantarum strain WCFS1 has three paralog genes for the fabG gene. Two are given the gene names fabG1 and fabG2. The other gene has no gene name in KEGG. In the OG database this gene is annotated as a short-chain dehydrogenase instead of a 3-oxoacyl-ACP reductase (fabG1 – OG_1852) or 3-ketoacyl-ACP reductase (fabG2 – OG_1542).
Fatty Acid Degradation
The KEGG database does not contain entries of the fatty acid degradation pathway for L. plantarum. A manual search for gene in this pathway found only a plasmid-encoded long-chain-fatty-acid-CoA ligase (EC: 6.2.1.3 – OG_5234) in strain NIZO2029. This is the first gene in the pathway. The only other gene that is found is a acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (EC: 1.3.8.7/1.3.99 – OG_1654), but this gene is also found in other metabolic pathways.
No further evidence was found that indicates the L. plantarum degrades fatty acids using this pathway.