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Updated: Aug 18, 2026

Metabolic Pathway Confirmation and Discovery Through 13C-labeling of Proteinogenic Amino Acids
Published on: January 26, 2012
Carbon-by-carbon discrimination of 13C incorporation into liver fatty acids
1Department of Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Medicine University of Toronto, Canada.
Abstract:
Quantitative carbon-by-carbon analysis would be useful in determining the origin and fate of carbons involved in fatty acid metabolism. Incorporation of 13C from 2-[13C]acetate into specific carbons of liver fatty acids was lowest at the n-2 carbon of saturates and monoenes but was 47% greater at acyl C1 than at C2, suggesting substantial redistribution of the 13C from C2 to C1 of acetyl CoA or malonyl CoA prior to 13C incorporation into fatty acids during de novo synthesis or during elongation. Thus, 13C derived from exogenous acetate can be quantitatively measured and is differentially incorporated into individual carbons depending on position in the fatty acid molecule.
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