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Updated: Jan 12, 2026

Measurement of Fatty Acid β-Oxidation in a Suspension of Freshly Isolated Mouse Hepatocytes
Published on: September 9, 2021
Molecular mechanisms of the mammalian fatty acid cycle
Christian Gusenda1, Martin Grininger1
1Buchmann Institute of Molecular Life Sciences, Goethe University Frankfurt, Max-von-Laue-Strasse 15, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Abstract:
Mammalian fatty acid synthase (mFAS) supplies cells with saturated fatty acids for energy storage, membrane formation, and protein modifications. Structural studies over the past two decades have identified conformational variability as a hallmark feature of the multidomain mFAS, but how does this structural flexibility influence fatty acid synthesis? Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) snapshots of human FAS (hFAS) and a homologous polyketide synthase (PKS) reveal that efficiency is governed less by large-scale flexibility and more by the precise docking choreography of the acyl carrier protein (ACP). Three principles appear to influence the propagation of the fatty acid cycle: inherent conformational variability, scaffolding that steers ACP towards productive interactions, and ACP:domain interface complementarity.
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