Biological process

A fatty acid beta-oxidation pathway acting on a very long-chain fatty acid. A very long-chain fatty acid has an aliphatic tail containing more than 22 carbons. The partway stars with the conversion of an acyl-CoA to a trans-2-enoyl-CoA, catalyzed by acyl-CoA oxidase; the electrons removed by oxidation pass directly to oxygen and produce hydrogen peroxide, which is cleaved by peroxisomal catalases. Fatty acid beta-oxidation begins with the addition of coenzyme A to a fatty acid, and ends when only two or three carbons remain (as acetyl-CoA or propionyl-CoA respectively).

While there is not universal consensus on the lengths of short-, medium-, long- and very-long-chain fatty acids, the GO uses the definitions in ChEBI (see CHEBI:26666, CHEBI:59554, CHEBI:15904 and CHEBI:27283).