Elementary plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology (2+1)

α-oxidation

• α-Oxidation of fatty acids has been found in certain tissues especially in brain tissue of mammals and plant systems.
  
• It does not require CoA intermediates and no high energy phosphates are generated.
  
• This type of oxidation results in the removal of one carbon at a time from the carboxyl end of the fatty acid.
• The physiological role of α-oxidation in plants is not yet fully established but it has been suggested that it may be involved in the degradation of long chain fatty acids as observed in many animal tissues.
• α- Oxidation is clearly the main source of the odd carbon fatty acids and their derivatives that occur in some plant lipids.
  
• In this process, sequential removal of one carbon at a time from free fatty acids of chain length ranging from C13 to C18 occur.