Biochemistry: Task 5
Christi Corder
000356780
November 1, 2015

A. There are three sources of fatty acids in the body. One of these sources is adipose tissue, in which adipose tissues release tissue fatty acids. Another source is the liver, which makes fatty acids, which travel through the bloodstream. Dietary fat is also a source. Three stages are involved in the breakdown of fatty acids to produce ATP. These are beta oxidation, the citric acid cycle, and the electron transport chain. A fatty acid is a long chain of carbons and hydrogens with a carboxylic acid group at the end. In beta oxidation, the fatty acid is broken down into two carbon units, which produce acetyl-CoA, and electrons and hydrogens are removed. The first step of beta oxidation occurs when the fatty acid is activated by the addition of a CoA subunit and the fatty acid is broken down into carbon units called acetyl-CoA and electrons and hydrogens are removed. The electrons and hydrogens are carried by NADH and FADH-2 to the electron transport chain and are used to make ATP. NADH and FADH-2 are also produced during the CAC and these also enter the electron transport chain and are used to produce ATP from ADP and inorganic phosphate. Also, the hydrogens from NADH and FADH-2 combine with oxygen and the electrons to form water.

(O’malley, 2014).

B. One difference between saturated and unsaturated fatty acids is that saturated fatty acids have as many hydrogens as can possibly fit around the carbon atoms. Unsaturated fatty acicds does not have the maximum number of hydrogens bonded to the carbon atoms because it has at least one double bond in the fatty tail. Another difference is that saturated fatty acid chains can stack and unsaturated fatty acid chains are “kinked” by double bonds. This means that saturated fatty acids are solid at room temperature and unsaturated fatty