Fatty acid
Malonyl-CoA is then involved in a repeating series of reactions that lengthens the growing fatty acid chain by two carbons at a time. Almost all natural fatty acids, therefore, have even numbers of carbon atoms. When synthesis is complete the free fatty acids are nearly always combined with glycerol (three fatty acids to one glycerol molecule) to form triglycerides, the main storage form of fatty acids, and thus of energy in animals. However, fatty acids are also important components of the phospholipids that form the phospholipid bilayers out of which all the membranes of the cell are constructed (the cell wall, and the membranes that enclose all the organelles within the cells, such as the nucleus, the mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, and the Golgi apparatus).
Tumor metabolome
Fatty acid synthesis is an anabolic process that starts from the conversion of acetyl-CoA to malonyl-CoA by acetyl-CoA carboxylase. Malonyl CoA leads to fatty acid synthesis (FAS) and is involved in the elongation of fatty acids through Fatty acid synthase (FASN). Although aerobic glycolysis is the best documented metabolic phenotype of tumor cells, it is not a universal feature of all human cancers. Amino acids and fatty acids have been shown to function as fuels for tumor cells to proliferate. The carnitine palmitoyltransferase enzymes that regulate the β-oxidation of fatty acids may have a key role in determining some of these phenotypes. Enhanced fatty acid synthesis provides lipids for membrane biogenesis to tumor cells and hence, it gives advantage in both growth and survival of the cell.