The fatty acid elongation pathway shows an elongation cycle of an acyl-ACP chain by adding two carbons. Acetoacetyl-acp is produced from interaction of 3-oxoacyl-acp synthase 3 with malonyl-acp and Acetyl-CoA, and then Acetoacetyl-acp produce a 3-oxoacyl acp spontaneously. 3-oxoacyl acp will undergo the cycles of the elongation. The first step is converting the oxoacyl acp into a (3R) 3-hydroxyacyl(acp) through a 3-oxoacyl[acp] reductase.This second step converts the hydroxyacyl into a trans 2 enoyl acp through a protein complex conformed of a hydroxomyristoyl dehydratase and a hydroxydecanoyl dehydratase. The third step can be reached through two different reactions with a enoyl-acp reductase, involving NADPH or NADH. This leads to the production of a 2,3,4-saturated fatty acyl acp. For the final step the 2,3,4 fatty acyl acp is turned into a oxoacyl acp through a 3-oxoacyl acp synthase protein complex. The products of multiple of the elongation cycle are phospholipids, lipoproteins (saturated fatty acids), lauric and other fatty acid-containing compounds.

Fatty Acid Elongation (Saturated) References