Translations:Eicosapentaenoic acid/10/en
Polyketide synthase pathway
Marine bacteria and the microalgae Schizochytrium use an anerobic polyketide synthase (PKS) pathway to synthesize DHA. The PKS pathway includes six enzymes namely, 3-ketoacyl synthase (KS), 2 ketoacyl-ACP-reductase(KR), dehydrase (DH), enoyl reductase (ER), dehydratase/2-trans 3-cos isomerase (DH/2,3I), dehydratase/2-trans, and 2-cis isomerase(DH/2,2I). The biosynthesis of EPA varies in marine species, but most of the marine species' ability to convert C18 PUFA to LC-PUFA is dependent on the fatty acyl desaturase and elongase enzymes. The molecule basis of the enzymes will dictate where the double bond is formed on the resulting molecule.