Figure 1.

Alignment of partial amino acid sequences of the acyl-lipid fatty acid Δ9-desaturases from different cyanobacteria. The desaturases are clustered into three types of enzymes, DesC1, DesC2, and DesC3, according to their amino acid and functional features. Four conservative histidine-containing domains are marked. Amino acids identical or similar in all three groups of the Δ9-desaturases are shown in green; amino acids identical in two groups of desaturases are shown in blue; amino acids, which are unique for one of the desaturase groups, are shown in orange.