Exogenous fatty acid metabolism in bacteria

Bacterial type II fatty acid synthesis (FASII) is a target for novel antibiotic development. All bacteria encode for mechanisms to incorporate exogenous fatty acids, and some bacteria can use exogenous fatty acids to bypass FASII inhibition. Bacteria encode three different mechanisms for activating exogenous fatty acids for incorporation into phospholipid synthesis. Exogenous fatty acids are converted into acyl-CoA in Gammaproteobacteria such as E. coli. Acyl-CoA molecules constitute a separate pool from endogenously synthesized acyl-ACP. Acyl-CoA can be used for phospholipid synthesis or broken down by β-oxidation, but cannot be used for lipopolysaccharide synthesis. Exogenous fatty acids are converted into acyl-ACP in some Gram-negative bacteria. The resulting acyl-ACP undergoes the same fates as endogenously synthesized acyl-ACP. Exogenous fatty acids are converted into acyl-phosphates in Gram-positive bacteria, and can be used for phospholipid synthesis or become acyl-ACP. Only the order Lactobacillales can use exogenous fatty acids to bypass FASII inhibition. FASII shuts down completely in presence of exogenous fatty acids in Lactobacillales, allowing Lactobacillales to synthesize phospholipids entirely from exogenous fatty acids. Inhibition of FASII cannot be bypassed in other bacteria because FASII is only partially down-regulated in presence of exogenous fatty acid or FASII is required to synthesize essential metabolites such as β-hydroxyacyl-ACP. Certain selective pressures such as FASII inhibition or growth in biofilms can select for naturally occurring one step mutations that attenuate endogenous fatty acid synthesis. Although attempts have been made to estimate the natural prevalence of these mutants, culture-independent metagenomic methods would provide a better estimate.