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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 Aug 9.
Published in final edited form as: Prog Retin Eye Res. 2018 Oct 25;69:137–158. doi: 10.1016/j.preteyeres.2018.10.004

Fig. 3.

Fig. 3.

(A) Schematic in vivo biosynthetic pathway from 18:3n3 and 18:2n6 mediated by ELOVL4 and other ELOVL family proteins. Desaturase and elongation steps are consecutively performed by fatty acid desaturase-1 (FADS1 or Δ5 desaturase), fatty acid desaturase-2 (FADS2 or Δ6 desaturase), and ELOVL1–5. Although some elongases are specific for a single step, others are nonspecific or multi-functional and act at several steps (e.g., human ELOVL5 and murine ELOVL2). A is an adapted reproduction from: Man Yu et al. (2012). J. Lipid Res. 53:(3) 494–504. doi:10.1194/jlr.M021386. © 2012 by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc. (B) Example of VLC-PUFA esterification in the retina: phosphatidylcholine containing the VLC-PUFA, 34:5n3 and the LC-PUFA, 22:6n3 (DHA) (C) Example of VLC-SFA amidification in the skin: ω-O-acylceramide containing the VLC-SFA, 28:0 ω-O-linked with 18:2n3 (D) Example of VLC-SFA amidification in the brain: sphingomyelin containing the VLC-SFA, 30:0.