Assembly of fatty acid chain via fatty acid synthase

BIOCHEMISTRY 3(2+1)
Lesson 22 : Fatty acid synthesis

Assembly of fatty acid chain via fatty acid synthase

Consists of five separate stages:

  1. Loading - acetyl CoA and malonyl CoA are attached to acyl carrier protein
  2. Condensation - both are condensed by fatty acid synthase to from acetoacetyl-ACP
  3. Reduction - NADPH is oxidized to form hydroxybutyryl ACP
  4. Dehydration - formation of double bond
  5. Reduction - NADPH is source of e- and H+ to form butyryl-ACP

Last four steps are repeated, each time with malonyl-ACP to elongate chain, until palmitate is produced.

Overall reaction:

acetyl CoA + 7 malonyl CoA + 14 NADPH + 20 H+ ---> palmitate + 7CO2 + 14 NADP+ + 8 HS-CoA + 6 H2O

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Last modified: Monday, 19 March 2012, 9:28 AM