Oxidoreductases;
Acting on paired donors, with incorporation or reduction of molecular oxygen;
With another compound as one donor, and incorporation of one atom of oxygen into the other donor
The enzyme, characterized from yeast and mammals, catalyses the hydroxylation of carbon 2 of long- or very-long-chain fatty acids attached to (4R)-4-hydroxysphinganine during de novo ceramide synthesis. The enzymes from yeast and from mammals contain an N-terminal cytochrome b5 domain that acts as the direct electron donor to the desaturase active site. The newly introduced 2-hydroxyl group has R-configuration. cf. EC 1.14.18.7, dihydroceramide fatty acyl 2-hydroxylase.
Fah1p, a Saccharomyces cerevisiae cytochrome b5 fusion protein, and its Arabidopsis thaliana homolog that lacks the cytochrome b5 domain both function in the alpha-hydroxylation of sphingolipid-associated very long chain fatty acids.
Synthesis of monohydroxylated inositolphosphorylceramide (IPC-C) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae requires Scs7p, a protein with both a cytochrome b5-like domain and a hydroxylase/desaturase domain.
