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The equation for biosynthesis is

1 Acetyl-CoA + 7 Malonyl-CoA + 14 NADPH + 14H+ -> Palmitate + 7 CO2 + 14 NADP+ + 8HS-CoA + 6 H2O

I really don't understand how there is only 6 H2O produced... and not 7?

Every cycle, there is the condensation of one molecule of water.

The first turn yields a 4 carbon molecules. Since palmitate is a 16C fatty acid, and two carbons are added each turn, there should be 6 turns remaining, for a total of 7 turn.

All the other numbers seem right. At first I thought my teacher could have made a mistake but everywhere I look on the net, it say 6 H2O.

Someone has an explanation for this?

Thank you :)

Edit: I found the answer in Voet & Voet yesterday. I add it here in case it can help someone else!

At the end of the biosynthesis, the palmitate is bonded with the Acyl-Carrier Protein (ACP) and it takes an hydrolysis to separate it, hence the missing H2O.

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  • $\begingroup$ instead of using the biochemical names, use the chemical formulas and write out the balanced chemical equation. Ex. palmitic acid is C16H32O2. Etc. $\endgroup$
    – AMR
    Commented Dec 1, 2015 at 8:47
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    $\begingroup$ I didn't think it was relevant since it didn't seem to be a matter of balancing formulas. I found the answer in Voet & Voet, edited the original post to add it. $\endgroup$
    – Peyolikepeyote
    Commented Dec 3, 2015 at 5:20

1 Answer 1

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I found the answer in Voet & Voet yesterday.

At the end of the biosynthesis, the palmitate is bonded with the Acyl-Carrier Protein (ACP) and it takes an hydrolysis to separate it, hence the missing H2O.

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