6.4.1—
b -Oxidation
In the process of b -oxidation the removal of each 2-carbon fragment from a long chain fatty acid involves a succession of five reactions (Fig. 6.3). The sequence is initiated by the activation of the substrate by coenzyme-A, catalyzed by the enzyme fatty acid thiokinase in the presence of ATP. The fatty acyl-CoA is then oxidized by the removal of hydrogen from carbons 2 and 3 of the chain and a double bond between 2 and 3 is formed. In this reaction the hydrogen is transferred to FAD. This reacts with molecular oxygen to produce peroxide which is broken down by catalase, and results in the uptake of one mole of oxygen for every two moles of fatty acyl-CoA oxidized. The unsaturated acyl-CoA produced is hydrated to form 3-hydroxy acyl-CoA, the reaction being catalysed by enoyl hydratase or crotonase, and this product then oxidized, with a concomitant reduction of NAD+ , to form a 3-keto acyl-CoA by the action of hydroacyl-CoA dehydrogenase. In the final reaction the 3-keto acyl-CoA is cleaved by the enzyme thiolase into acetyl-CoA and a new fatty acyl-CoA. The fatty acyl-CoA re-enters the reaction sequence and successive acetyl-CoA units are generated.
Fatty acids with an even number of carbons yield only acetyl-CoA units but those with an odd number of carbons result in the formation of acetyl-CoA and propionyl-CoA. In plant tissues propionyl-CoA is degraded by a modified b -oxidation sequence to yield acetyl-CoA and carbon dioxide.
Figure 6.3
The b -oxidation pathway.
The b -oxidation pathway was unequivocally demonstrated to occur in plant tissues by Stumpf and Barber (1956) who showed that long chain aliphatic acids were oxidized to carbon dioxide by mitochondrial preparations from germinating peanut cotyledons, when these preparations were supplemented with a number of cofactors including ATP, CoA, and NAD+ . The rate of release of 14 CO2 from specifiically labelled butyric and palmitic acids was consistent with their degradation by b -oxidation and subsequent oxidation by the TCA cycle.