Polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) metabolic pathway

Polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) metabolic pathway. Animals are unable to endogenously synthesise linoleic (LA) or α-linolenic acid (LNA) and therefore these essential fatty acids must be consumed from dietary sources. Endogenous desaturases and elongases are responsible for conversion of LA and LNA to the key metabolites: arachidonic acid (AA), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Desaturase enzymes are the same for both omega-3 and omega-6 pathways, and therefore DHA production may be limited when the LA to LNA ratio of the diet is high.
Polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) metabolic pathway

Publication

Review on docosahexaenoic acid in poultry and swine nutrition: Consequence of enriched animal products on performance and health characteristics. (2019) Sophie A. Lee, et al. Anim Nutr. 2019 Mar;5(1):11-21. Figure: F1.

Gene mentions


Organism Group Word Match Source NCBI Symbol NCBI ID
Drosophila melanogaster Invertebrates (LA) LA ncbigene_symbol La 35305
Drosophila melanogaster Invertebrates (AA) AA ncbigene_symbol aa 44792
Drosophila melanogaster Invertebrates (EPA) EPA ncbigene_synonym Pka-R2 36041
Drosophila melanogaster Invertebrates (DPA) DPA ncbigene_symbol dpa 35679

Chemical mentions

Word Match MeSH Name ChEBI
Omega-6 PUFA Fatty Acids, Omega-3 mesh:D015525 omega-3 fatty acid chebi:25681
Omega-3 PUFA Fatty Acids, Omega-3 mesh:D015525 omega-3 fatty acid chebi:25681
Linoleic acid NA mesh:D008041
linolenic acid Linolenic Acids mesh:D008042 linolenic acid chebi:25048
Arachidonic acid NA mesh:D001095
Eicosapentaenoic Eicosapentaenoic Acid mesh:D015118 all-cis-5,8,11,14,17-icosapentaenoic acid chebi:28364
EPA NA mesh:C062422
Docosapentaenoic acid NA mesh:C026219
DPA NA mesh:C502590
Docosahexaenoic acid Docosahexaenoic Acids mesh:D004281 docosahexaenoic acid chebi:36005
DHA NA mesh:C111716

Disease mentions

Word Match MeSH Name DOID