Questions about fatty acid synthase

[akimhaneul]

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is the very first starting molecule acetyl coa? And then it adds malonyl coa to the growing chain while also removing co2 so that essentially you are growing the chain by 2 carbons at a time?
Is this how the enzyme works?



Also, why is it that when making palmitate, the overall equation involves removal of 6 h2o molecules?


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[aldol16]

Yes, in a simplified way. The enzyme is like a swinging arm that starts with acetyl-CoA and adds two-carbon units in the form of malonyl-CoA to the elongating chain, using the decarboxylation to drive the reaction. Then depending on what you want, you have to reduce the carbonyl.

I would encourage you to draw out the mechanism for that to make sure you understand how fatty acid synthase works - it also will have the effect of showing you how many waters are blown off.