Primer Specificity of Mammary Fatty Acid Synthetase and the Role of the Soluble β-Oxidative Enzymes

Abstract

Abstract Comparison of the incorporation of various primers into fatty acids by rabbit mammary fatty acid synthetase shows butyryl coenzyme A to be most effective for the synthesis of fatty acids. Butyryl-CoA can be synthesized from acetyl-CoA by the reversal of β oxidation by means of enzymes which are present in the cytoplasm. A 3-fold stimulation observed in the incorporation of acetyl-CoA into fatty acids by the fatty acid synthetase on supplementation of the incubation mixture with the β-oxidative enzymes suggests that the role of the β-oxidative enzymes is to provide the synthetase with the most favored primer.