Degenerative Spermatocyte Homolog 1, Lipid Desaturase (DEGS1)

DEGS1 is responsible for inserting double bonds into specific positions in fatty acids. DEGS1 contains three His-containing consensus motifs that are characteristic of a group of membrane fatty acid desaturases. MLD is predicted to be a multiple membrane-spanning protein and is found to be extractable from particulate fractions with detergent but not salt or urea. MLD is widely expressed in human tissues and is localized to the endoplasmic reticulum. Cotransfection of MLD with the epidermal growth factor receptor resulted in decreased expression of the receptor but did not affect platelet-derived growth factor receptor expression. MLD overexpression inhibited biosynthesis of the EGF receptor, suggesting a possible role of a fatty acid desaturase in regulating biosynthetic processing of the EGF receptor.