Cloning, characterization and expression of Peking duck fatty acid synthase during adipocyte differentiation

ABSTRACT

Background Fatty acid synthase (FAS) is a key enzyme of de novo lipogenesis (DNL), which has been cloned from several species Gallus gallus, Mus musculus, Homo sapiens, but not from Anas platyrhynchos. The current study was conducted to obtain the full-length coding sequence of Peking duck FAS and investigate its expression during adipocyte differentiation. Results We have isolated a 7654 bp fragment from Peking duck adipocytes that corresponds to the FAS gene. The cloned fragment contains an open reading frame of 7545 bp, encodes a 2515 amino acid protein, and displays high nucleotide and amino acid homology to avian FAS orthologs. Twelve hour treatment of oleic acid significantly up-regulated the expression of FAS in duck preadipocytes (P < 0.05). However, 1000 µM treatment of oleic acid exhibited lipotoxic effect on cell viability (P < 0.05). In addition, during the first 24 h of duck adipocyte differentiation FAS was induced; however, after 24 h its expression level declined (P < 0.05). Conclusion We have successfully cloned and characterized Peking duck FAS. FAS was induced during adipocyte differentiation and by oleic acid treatment. These findings suggest that Peking duck FAS plays a similar role to mammalian FAS during adipocyte differentiation.