Product-Regulation Mechanisms for Fatty Acid Biosynthesis Catalyzed by Mycobacterium smegmatis FAS I

One way or another. New mechanisms are presented to explain the bimodal product distribution in fatty acid biosynthesis catalyzed by Mycobacterium smegmatis FAS I. The predominant formation of palmitic acid and tetracosanoic acid in the presence or absence of the endogenous polysaccharides is due to the removal of the end product by a stoichiometric complex formation with the polysaccharides (indicated in red in the scheme) or by the formation of a stable self aggregate (in blue).