In many tissues, especially heart and skeletal muscle tissue, fatty acids are broken down through a process known as beta oxidation, which results in the production of mitochondrial " acetyl-CoA ", which can be used in the citric acid cycle.
32.
*Beta oxidation, in the mitochondrial matrix, then cuts the long carbon chains of the fatty acids ( in the form of acyl-CoA molecules ) into a series of two-carbon ( ATP, during the course of each turn of the cycle.
33.
Fatty acyl-CoA synthetase similarly activates fatty acids with ATP, followed by displacement of AMP with CoA . Because of their similar activities, luciferase is able to replace fatty acyl-CoA synthetase and convert long-chain fatty acids into fatty-acyl CoA for beta oxidation.
34.
Glycolysis produces only 2 ATP molecules, but somewhere between 30 and 36 ATPs are produced by the oxidative phosphorylation of the 10 NADH and 2 succinate molecules made by converting one molecule of glucose to carbon dioxide and water, while each cycle of beta oxidation of a fatty acid yields about 14 ATPs.
35.
Because PGE 2 activates multiple prostanoid receptors and has a short half-life in vivo due to its rapidly metabolism in cells by omega oxidation and beta oxidation ], metabolically resistant EP 1-selective activators are useful for the study of EP 1's function and could be clinically useful for the treatment of certain diseases.
36.
Steroids are also broken down by some bacteria in a process similar to beta oxidation, and this breakdown process involves the release of significant amounts of acetyl-CoA, propionyl-CoA, and pyruvate, which can all be used by the cell for energy . " M . tuberculosis " can also grow on the lipid cholesterol as a sole source of carbon, and genes involved in the cholesterol use pathway ( s ) have been validated as important during various stages of the infection lifecycle of " M . tuberculosis ".
37.
Some examples of successful metabolic engineering are the following : ( i ) Identification of constraints to lysine production in corynebacterium " glutamicum " and insertion of new genes to relieve these constraints to improve production ( ii ) Engineering of a new fatty acid biosynthesis pathway, called reversed beta oxidation pathway, that is more efficient than the native pathway in producing fatty acids and alcohols which can potentially be catalytically converted to chemicals and fuels ( iii ) Improved production of DAHP an aromatic metabolite produced by " E . coli " that is an intermediate in the production of aromatic amino acids.
