The Synthesis of Milk Medium-Chain Fatty Acids in Mammary Gland

Abstract

The fatty acid de novo synthesized in mammary gland is mainly catalyzed by fatty acid synthase (FASN) and acetyl CoA carboxylase (ACC), including all the short-and medium-chain fatty acid and half part of the palmitate in ruminants. However, the synthesis mechanism of medium-chain fatty acid among different species is different. In non-ruminants, a tissue-specific enzyme thioesterase II (TE II) can interact with TE I, which is a part of FASN, and terminate the elongation of fatty acids at about 10 carbons. However, in ruminants' mammary-gland acetyl/malonyl-CoA transferase (MAT) is predicted to be involved in the termination of medium-chain fatty acid without the presence of (TE II). A more exact understanding about the mechanism of synthesis of medium-chain fatty acid in different species is still unclear. This review gives the research development of synthesis mechanism of medium-chain fatty acid in mammary gland among different species.