Figure 4. Dietary arachidonic (AA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA) acid transform the auxotrophic nd-fads2^−/− mouse into the ‘AA-’ and ‘DHA-fads2^−/−’ mouse mutants.

• A AA and DHA supplemented diets systemically suppress the synthesis of 20:3^5,11,14. The bar diagrams present the quantitative analysis of the fatty acid substituents of the main PL classes of liver of AA^−/− mice. AA (blue) are the only surrogates for PUFAs in all PL species. y-axis:% of total FAME. Right panel: schematic structural view of the putative assembly of AA-substituted PL classes enriched in the inner leaflet of the PL bilayer in a domain of the asymmetric membrane bilayer.
• B Same as in (A) for DHA^−/− mice. DHA (green) are the only surrogates for PUFAs in all PL species. y-axis:% of total FAME. Right panel: schematic structural view of the putative assembly of DHA-substituted PL classes enriched in the inner leaflet of the PL bilayer in a domain of the asymmetric membrane bilayer.