Skip to main content
Fig. 2 | Lipids in Health and Disease

Fig. 2

From: Sphingolipid lysosomal storage diseases: from bench to bedside

Fig. 2

Three general pathways for the generation of Cer. In mammalian cells, Cer is biosynthesized de novo or generated by catabolism of complex SLs. In the de novo synthesis pathway (purple block arrow), a four-enzyme sequence culminates in the formation of Cer from the amino acid serine and palmitoyl-CoA. This pathway is located in the ER. Sphingomyelin can be hydrolyzed to Cer in the SM hydrolysis pathway (orange block arrow), which is a one-enzyme step. (Degradation of other complex SLs is not shown.) Alternatively, Cer can be produced in the salvage pathway (green block arrows), through the acylation of Sph by the ceramide synthase family of enzymes. The red blocks represent cartoons of the possible structures of the molecules. It should be noted that the acyl-chain length of Cer can vary greatly

Back to article page