Characterization of a Rhodobacter sphaeroides primary fatty acid kinase

Widely distributed among prokaryotes, short chain fatty acid kinases provide a path for fatty acid entry into central metabolic pathways. These enzymes catalyze the reversible, ATP-dependent synthesis of acyl-phosphates, which leads to the production of acyl-CoA derivatives by a coordinate acyltransferase. To date, characterized representatives of short chain fatty acid kinases exhibit relatively narrow substrate specificity. In this work, biochemical characterization of a predicted acetate kinase from Rhodobacter sphaeroides reveals a novel enzyme with broad substrate specificity for primary fatty acids of varying lengths (C2--C8).