Biosynthesis of Lipids

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Write an essay on the biosynthesis of lipids. * Fatty acids are made up of a long hydrocarbon chain having a carboxylic acid at one end. * Fats in eykaryotes are an important source of dietary calories. * Typically 30-40% of calories in the American diet are from fat. * Fat is the major form of energy storage. In a typical individual, the fuel reserves are distributed as follows: * Fat: 100,00kcal * Protein:25,000kcal * Carbohydrate: 650kcal * Fatty acids are not used in bacteria for this purpose, but are mainly associated with the generation of phospholipids for use in bacterial cell membranes. This is due to the fact that bacteria do not hibernate or do anything or this sort. If they need to do something like this- they sporulate. * Some diseases can occur involving the disturbances in the fatty acid mechanism: * Diabetes mellitus ( diabetes) * Or specific disorders of faty acid oxidation, such as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, which might be related to a deficiency in the medium chain acetyl CoA dehydrogenase- an important enzyme of fatty acid oxidation. * Fatty acid synthesis is the process od combining eight two carbon fragments (acetyl groups from acetyl CoA) to form a 16 carbon saturated fatty acid palmitate. Palmitate can then be modified to give rise to the other fatty acids. These modifications may include: * Chain elongation: to give longer fatty acids, such as the 18 carbon stearate. * Destaturation: giving unsaturated fatty acids. * Typical fatty acid= 18 carbons long= Stearic acid is a typical long chain saturated fatty acid * 1 double bond: monosaturated fatty acid. Eg. Oleic acid is a typical monosaturated fatty acid * Fatty acids are typically stored in their saturated form and unsaturated forms found in the membrane. Fatty acids play four major roles in bodily processes roles:

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