Quantitative deuterium isotopic profiling at natural abundance indicates mechanistic differences for delta 12-epoxidase and delta 12-desaturase in Vernonia galamensis.

Quantitative (2)H NMR spectroscopy can determine the natural abundance ((2)H/(1)H) ratio at each site of a molecule. In natural products, variation in these values is related to the reaction mechanisms in the pertinent biosynthetic pathway. For the first time, this novel approach has been exploited to probe for mechanistic differences in the introduction of different functionalities into a long-chain fatty acid. Vernolic acid, a major component of the seed oil of Vernonia galamensis, contains both an epoxide and a desaturation. The site-specific isotopic distribution ((2)H/(1)H)(i) has been determined for both vernolic acid and linoleic acid isolated from the same V. galamensis oil. It is found that the ((2)H/(1)H) ratio of vernolic acid shows a pattern along the entire length of the chain, consistent with linoleic acid being its immediate precursor. Notably, the C13 relates to the C13 of linoleic acid but not to the C13 of oleic acid. Furthermore, the C12 and C13 positions in vernolic acid are less depleted, consistent with a change in hybridization state from sp(2) to sp(3). However, the C11 position shows a marked relative enrichment in the vernolic acid, implying that it plays a role in the epoxidase but not the desaturase mechanism. Thus, although it can be concluded that the catalytic mechanisms for the epoxidase and desaturase activities are similar, marked differences in the residual ((2)H/(1)H) patterns indicate that the reaction mechanisms are not identical.

Natural deuterium distribution in fatty acids isolated from peanut seed oil: a site-specific study by quantitative 2H NMR spectroscopy.

Quantitative (2)H NMR spectroscopy has been used to measure the distribution of deuterium at natural abundance in long-chain fatty acids extracted from the same vegetable oil. Peanut seed oil was selected, due to its suitable oleic and linoleic acid content. The methyl esters of the fatty acids were prepared by transesterification and isolated by modified argentation column chromatography on silica. In order to measure the natural isotopic fractionation of deuterium (D) at the maximum number of positions, the purified methyl oleate and methyl linoleate were chemically cleaved and the (D/H)(i) values determined by quantitative (2)H NMR spectroscopy. It was thus possible to demonstrate that fractionation in deuterium occurs during the desaturation of oleate to linoleate. Furthermore, the previously observed distribution of deuterium at the sites of desaturation is confirmed, as is the alternating pattern of (D/H)(i), which relates to the origin of the pertinent hydrogen atoms. The data obtained are discussed in terms of the kinetic isotopic effects intrinsic to the enzymes-synthetases and desaturases-involved in the biosynthesis of fatty acids.