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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2009 Oct 8.
Published in final edited form as: Cancer Lett. 2008 May 13;269(2):363–377. doi: 10.1016/j.canlet.2008.03.044

Figure 1. Pathways for the synthesis of very long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Figure 1

Linoleic acid (LA) and alpha-linolenic acid (α-LNA) are converted to arachidonic acid (AA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), respectively, through a sequential action of delta6 fatty acid desaturase (Δ6), elongase (elo) and delta5 fatty acid desaturase (Δ5). EPA may be elongated to docosapentaenoic acid (DPA) and then desaturated by delta4 fatty acid desaturase (Δ4) to docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). However, Sprecher et al. have demonstrated that EPA is likely elongated to DPA and to tetracosapentaenoic acid (TPA), desaturated to tetracosahexaenoic acid (THA) by Δ6 desaturase, translocated to peroxisomes, and β-oxidized (β-oxi) to docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).