Molecule of the Month!
For the molecular biologist in all of you.
Fatty Acid Synthase
Fat, these days, is a bad word. But we can’t survive without fats, and more particularly, without fatty acids. Fatty acids are small molecules composed of a long string of carbon and hydrogen atoms, with an acidic group at one end. They are used for two essential things in your body. First, they are used to build the lipids that make up all of the membranes around and inside your cells. Second, fatty acids are a concentrated source of energy, so they are often connected to glycerol to form fats, which are a compact way to store energy until it is needed. But as we all know, if we eat too much, this extra fat can build up!
