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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2022 Jan 3.
Published in final edited form as: Curr Opin Lipidol. 2022 Feb 1;33(1):76–82. doi: 10.1097/MOL.0000000000000806

Figure 1:

Figure 1:

Endogenous production of VLSFAs.

Very long chain saturated fatty acids (VLSFAs) are produced from 18:0 by elongases in the ELOVL (Elongation of very long chain fatty acids) family of enzymes. Seven ELOVL enzymes exist in humans and overlap in the elongation steps they can catalyze. The 18:0 can come from 16:0 or from the diet. The VLSFAs are in low abundance unlike 18:0 and 16:0, and only a small proportion of 18:0 is elongated to 20:0 and longer saturates.