Abstract
The discovery of a novel pathway for biosynthesis of medium and short chain fatty acids in plants (α-keto acid elongation pathway, 1) raises the possibility (however unlikely) that medium-chain fatty acids (mcFAs) of certain oil seeds producing them may be derived by this pathway. Alternatively, these may be formed after release of elongating fatty acid chains from fatty acid synthase mediated biosynthesis (FAS) by specific medium chain thioesterases [2, 3, 4]. Thus far the αKAE pathway is only known to occur in trichome glands of plants in the family Solanaceae. In the αKAE pathway, iso-, anteiso- or straight-chain keto acid products of branched-chain amino acid metabolism are elongated by one carbon (via acetate) per cycle. The final step is predicted to be oxidative decarboxylation to yield CoA activated acids. The mechanism that determines the chain length of αKAE products is not understood [1].
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