human cells by cyclooxygenases and cytochrome P450 (CYP) to prostaglandins, thromboxanes, prostacyclin, and related compounds and by lipoxygenases to hydroperoxides, leukotrienes, and epoxy alcohols ( 3,4 ). These eicosanoids exert a plethora of both physiological and pathophysiological functions (e.g., in control of reproduction, cancer development, skin water permeability, fever, and infl ammation). Homologous enzymes are found in plants and fungi with functions in reproduction, development, and infection, and they usually use linoleic and linolenic acids as substrates ( 5-7 ).Plant lipoxygenases and allene oxide synthases (AOSs) catalyze the fi rst steps during biosynthesis of jasmonic acid, which is a potent regulator of growth and defense with structural similarities to prostaglandins ( 7,8 ). Pathogens can induce expression of lipoxygenases and fatty acid ␣ -dioxygenase (DOX) in plants with formation of jasmonic acid and other oxylipins, which act as defense molecules. Oxylipins are also formed by fungi, which are human and plant pathogens. These fungi express lipoxygenases and DOX-CYP fusion proteins ( 5 ). The DOX domains are homologs to animal heme peroxidases, which include cyclooxygenases and ␣ -DOX, and their CYP domains take advantage of the peroxide shunt pathway in analogy with thromboxane and prostacyclin synthases ( 9 ). Oxylipins designate oxygenated metabolites of unsaturated fatty acids, and they are mainly formed by eukaryotic organisms ( 1, 2 ). Arachidonic acid is oxygenated in
Abstract The genome of the rice blast fungus