The multienzyme architecture of eukaryotic fatty acid synthases

Eukaryotic fatty acid synthases (FASs) are huge multifunctional enzymes that carry out all enzymatic steps essential for fatty acid biosynthesis. Recent crystallographic studies provide new insights into the architecture of the two distinct eukaryotic FAS systems, the 2.6 MDa heterododecameric fungal and the 540 kDa dimeric animal FAS. In this review, we compare the fundamentally different organization of these two megasynthases and discuss the structural principles of enzyme integration and substrate shuttling in FAS multienzymes.