The composition of membranes must be maintained over time as the lipid composition of a membrane impacts its optimum packing and fluidity and ultimately cellular function. Diseases such as Alzheimer’s and many cancers are associated with abnormal membrane structures with significant alterations to the phospholipid and fatty acids. In addition to perturbation in diseases, it is also clear that metabolic pathways are adjusted to maintain membrane composition with dietary stress including high glucose diets. In order to interrogate the metabolic pathways that adapt membrane composition with stress, C. <i>elegans</i> are fed glucose in animals treated with RNAi against fatty acid desaturases, which are candidates genes in the response to glucose. When fat-6 is knocked down with RNAi, there is an abundance of C18:0 within both the phospholipid and neutral lipid composition. fat-6 RNAi-treated animals experienced a dramatic decrease in survivability around the fourth day for all trials. These results indicate that fat-6 blocks the production of unsaturated fatty acids causing an extreme buildup of C18:0 (stearic acid).

Dissecting the role of fatty acid desaturases in high glucose diets in C. <i>elegans</i>

ACS Spring 2022

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Dissecting the role of fatty acid desaturases in high glucose diets in C. elegans