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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Feb 1.
Published in final edited form as: Biochim Biophys Acta. 2015 Nov 17;1861(2):91–97. doi: 10.1016/j.bbalip.2015.11.007

Figure 4.

Figure 4

Competition study for Δ6-desaturase between polyunsaturated fatty acids (18:2n-6 or/and 18:3n-3) and 16:0. (A) 24 h incubation with constant molar concentration of 18:2n-6 along with various concentrations of 16:0. In a dose dependent manner, 16:1n-10 rises while the desaturation-elongation product 20:3n-6 and the elongation product 20:2n-6 falls. The immediate FADS2 product 18:3n-6 is unaffected except for the highest concentration. The slope of the 20:2n-6 decrease (s20:2n-6) is greater than the slope of the decrease in 20:3n-6 (s20:3n-6) suggesting nascent 18:3n-6 outcompetes the greater concentration 18:2n-6 for elongation. (B) 18:3n-3 constant 16:0 variable shows results analogous to 18:2n-6 incubations in (A). (C and D) Combined 18:2n-6 and 18:3n-3 incubations. The immediate desaturation products are nearly unchanged with dose. The n-3 desaturation-elongation product 20:4n-3 decreases in a dose-dependent manner while the n-6 desaturation-elongation product 20:3n-6 decreases only at the highest concentration, indicating that 16:0 competes more effectively with 18:3n-3 than with 18:2n-6. The 16:0 dose dependent rise in 18:1n-9 is greater than that of 18:0 (s18:1>s18:0) again consistent with coupled desaturation and elongation.