CELE_Y67H2A.8, Y67H2A.8

fat-1 encodes an omega-3 fatty acyl desaturase that acts on substrates of 16-20 carbons with a preference for omega-6 fatty acids; FAT-1 dehydrogenates its substrates 3 carbons from the methyl terminus; FAT-1 is required in vivo for n3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) synthesis; the fatty acids of fat-1(wa9) mutants consist of 20% arachidonic acid (20:4n6), instead of the 20% eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5n3) seen in wild-type worms; fat-1(wa9) mutants are generally normal, with normal chemotaxis; fat-4(wa14) fat-1(wa9) double mutants are superficially normal but have deficient chemotaxis to AWA-sensed odorants (though not to AWC-sensed ones), and mildly defective OSM-9/OCR-2-dependent nociception by ASH neurons; fat-1 mutants are abnormally sensitive to excess dihommogamma-linolenic acid (DGLA, 20:3n-6), which induces degeneration of larval germ cells, excess apoptosis in adult germline, and sterility; while this sensitivity is enhanced by fat-4 mutations, it requires excess DGLA (or its precursor, gamma-linolenic acid/18:3n-6) in the food media; fat-1 or fat-1;fat-4 mutants grown on normal food are fertile, despite their having excess DGLA in vivo; transgenic FAT-1 can lower apoptosis in cultured mammalian neurons, suggesting that it may be required for an evolutionarily conserved signalling pathway regulating apoptosis.

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