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When Do Lasses (Longevity Assurance Genes) Become CerS (Ceramide Synthases)?

Y. Pewzner‐Jung,S. Ben-Dor,A. Futerman

Published 2006 in Journal of Biological Chemistry

ABSTRACT

Ceramide is thekey intermediate in thepathwayof sphingolipid (SL)2 biosynthesis (1) and an important intracellular signaling molecule (2, 3). Ceramide consists of a sphingoid long chain base to which a fatty acid is attached via an amide bond (Fig. 1). When the chemical composition of SLswas first determined in the 1940s (4), stearic acid (C18:0) was identified as the major fatty acid attached to the sphingoid base. Later, with the development of more sensitive techniques (5, 6), it became clear that mammalian SLs contain a wide variety of fatty acids, ranging in length from C14 to C32, that are predominantly saturated and can contain !or "-hydroxyl groups (7, 8). Within the past few years, there has been renewed interest in the functional significance of this fatty acid variability, and thisminireviewwill focus on current advances in our understanding of how the fatty acid composition of ceramide is regulated. In particular, we will discuss a recently discovered family of mammalian ceramide synthase (CerS) genes and emerging evidence that specific ceramides containing distinct fatty acids play important roles in cell growth and apoptosis.

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