Beta Oxidation of Fatty Acids An Overview Beta oxidation of fatty acids takes place in the mitochondrial matrix for

the most part. However, fatty acids have to be activated for degradation by coenzyme A by forming a fatty acyl-CoA thioester. For short and medium length fatty acids, they undergo this reaction in the mitochondria. The long chain fatty acids can't go through the membrane though, so this reaction occurs at the outer mitochondrial membrane and the product has to be carried by carnitine across the inner mitochondrial membrane. They are made into acylcarnitine derivatives by carnitine transferase I on the outer side of the inner membrane. These are then transported across the membrane by a translocaseand then they are passed to carnitine acyltransferase II on the matrix side which puts the fatty acyl group back on CoA leaving the original fatty acyl-CoA. Beta Oxidation of Unsaturated Fatty Acids Unsaturated fatty acids are catabolized by the beta oxidation pathway, but they require two additional enzymes to handle the cis-double bonds. These fatty acids (with one cis-double bond) go through the beta oxidation cycle as many times as they can before coming to the double bond. The Enoyl-CoA Isomerase makes the cis-double bond into a trans-double bond and moves it over one carbon. This product can

then continue through the beta oxidation pathway. For polyunsaturated fatty acids (with more than one cis-double bond) it goes through the same thing, but it only goes through one more round of beta oxidation because then you get to a fatty acid with a trans and a cis double bond. For this we use 2,4-dienoyl-CoA reductase to produce a trans-3-enoyl product which is converted by an enoyl-CoA isomerase to a trans-2-enoyl-CoA which then goes normally through the pathway. Beta Oxidation of Saturated Fatty Acids Each cycle of beta-oxidation of saturated fatty acid will release one molecule of acetyl CoA (2 carbon acid thioester). Let say there is a palmitic acid (containing 16 carbon) undergoing beta-oxidation, it requires 7 cycle to complete the beta-oxidation and 8 molecules of acetyl CoA will form. Each cycle release 2-carbon acid and palmitic acid is a 16-carbon acid, thus 1st cycle will prvide 14-carbon acid and acetyl CoA 2 nd cycle will prvide 12-carbon acid and acetyl CoA ...so on and so on 7th cycle will break down a butyryl acid (4carbon acid) to TWO molecules of acetyl CoA. From above observation, we can conclude that: (1) numbers of acetyl CoA will be provided by complete beta-oxidation are:

number of Carbon of that fatty acid divided by 2 (2) numbers of cycles of complete beta-oxidation will be required: number of Carbon of that fatty acid divided by 2 minus ONE

Biochemistry CHEM 123

Beta Oxidation of Fatty Acids & Lipid Digestion and Absorption

Submitted by: Genesis Torres Shida Salikala Miel Atilano Jonas Rafael Galeos