Enzymatic Synthesis of Ketosphingosine Base from Labeled Serine in the Rat Liver Particulate

It has been demonstrated regarding the formation of ketosphingosine base that the enzymatic condensation of palmitoyl-CoA with serine in the particulate preparation from rat liver produces only ketodihydrosphingosine in the absence of flavin nucleotide but produces ketosphingosine as well as ketodihydrosphingosine in the presenee of flavin nucleotide. The findings suggest that ketodihydrosphingosine is formed first from the enzymatic reaction of palmitoyl-CoA with serine and then converted to ketosphingosine by dehydrogenation with the flavin enzyme.