Inhibitory Activity of Indanofan and Its Enantiomers on Biosynthesis of Very-Long-Chain Fatty Acids

The influence of the S-enantiomer, R-enantiomer and racemate species of indanofan on the elongation of very-long-chain fatty acids (VLCFA) elongation was assayed using a leek microsomal preparation. Double-reciprocal plots of the rate of VLCFA production versus the concentration of C18 : 0-CoA demonstrated to be a competitive type of inhibition by indanofan. The I50 values of (S)-indanofan, (R)-indanofan and the (RS)-indanofan racemate for elongation of C18 : 0- and C20 : 0-acid were estimated to be about 2×10−8, >10−3 and 5×10−8 M, respectively. These findings prove that the S-enantiomer inhibited the elongation of the C18 : 0-and C20 : 0-acid ca. 2–3 times more strongly than the racemate, yielding almost no inhibition by the R-enantiomer. The elongation of C18 : 0- as well as of the C20 : 0-acid is inhibited by the S-enantiomer only. © Pesticide Science Society of Japan