Title: Endocannabinoid-like Lipids: Discovery and Biosynthetic Enzymes
Speaker: Prof. David Merkler, Ph.D.
Department of Chemistry, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620 USA
Abstract: Fatty acid amides are an extensive family of cell signaling lipids with the general structure of R-CO-NH-Y. This structural simplicity belies a wealth of diversity amongst this lipid family as the R-group is derived from fatty acids (R-COOH) and the Y-group is derived from a number of biogenic amines (H2N-Y). The fatty acid amide family is divided into different classes, which are defined by parent amines. Examples include the N-acylethanolamines (NAEs, R-CO-NH-CH2-CH2OH), the N-acylglycines (NAGs, R-CO-NH-CH2-COOH), and the fatty acid primary amides (PFAMs, R-CO-NH2). In addition to the NAEs, the NAGs, and the PFAMs, other classes of fatty acid amides are known. As the best-known fatty acid amide is N-arachidonoylethanolamine (anandamide), a fatty acid amide found in the human brain that binds to the cannabinoid receptors. The Merkler laboratory has had a long interest in the fatty acid amides, with a focus on their discovery and biosynthesis. We and others have demonstrated that the NAGs and the NAEs are precursors to the PFAMs and were the first to identify N-oleoylglycine from a mammalian source, long-chain N-acylserotonins from Drosophila, and have characterized a set of N-acyltransferases from insects and mammals. The goal of my presentation at UMass Dartmouth is to provide a summary of our work in the fatty acid amide field with an emphasis on our future research endeavors.
